Surgical specialty
Thoracic Surgery (Integrated): Salary, Residency & Career Guide
Cardiothoracic surgery for heart, lungs, mediastinum and great vessels.
Typical Training
6 years
Six-year integrated thoracic surgery; independent route follows general surgery.
Attending Compensation
$749,707
Average Total Compensation
Employment outlook
Not isolated
Projected Job Growth
Relative Competitiveness Index
Not Available
Separate match, fellowship pathway, or no comparable NRMP cohort.
Start in Medical School
M1 to M4 Preparation
Practical experience, projects and rotation planning.
See the Medical School RoadmapAttending Compensation and State Wages
U.S. Attending Compensation
$749,707
Average Total Compensation
BLS does not publish a separately matched state wage series for this specialty.
Resident Pay by Institution
Six-year integrated thoracic surgery; independent route follows general surgery..
2026–27 salaries, five published training-institution examples.
Selected institution
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
$77,049/ year
Pay varies by institution and postgraduate year.
Schedules and Work Setting
Schedule and Call
Cardiac and lung surgery days can be prolonged; transplant logistics, postoperative ICU complications and cardiac emergencies add unpredictable night and weekend coverage.
Practice Settings
Cardiac and thoracic operating rooms, intensive care, transplant and outpatient surgical follow-up.
Procedures and Clinical Work
- Coronary bypass surgery
- Valve surgery
- Lung resection
- Mechanical circulatory support
Fellowship Training
Fellowship Expectation Index
3 / 5
Fellowship Options
Common Fellowship Duration: 1–2 year(s) beyond residency. Congenital cardiac or transplant specialization may add training.
Integrated thoracic surgery trains core cardiothoracic surgeons. Congenital cardiac, transplant and complex aortic surgery may involve further specialized experience.
Direct Practice
Core adult cardiac and thoracic surgical practice after appropriate training and privileges.
Specialized Practice
Congenital heart surgery and advanced transplantation commonly favor additional focused preparation.
Choosing a Path
Evaluate a program’s adult cardiac versus lung surgery case mix before committing to further training.
Potential Fellowship Pathways
- Congenital cardiac surgery
- Advanced heart failure and transplantation
- Aortic surgery
Preparing in M1 Through M4
Follow a cardiothoracic case from conference through preoperative planning, bypass or lung surgery, ICU care and recovery. The training combines procedures with high-stakes postoperative physiology.
Research or QI
A cardiac surgery outcomes study, enhanced recovery intervention or lung cancer surgery registry can provide concrete operating-room and ICU questions.
Common Mistake
Choosing the field solely for operative complexity without considering postoperative ICU coverage, transplant logistics and the length of training.
Preparation by Year
- 1Observe cardiac surgery and thoracic oncology services separately to understand how heart and lung operations differ.
- 2Ask mentors to compare integrated six-year thoracic training with general surgery followed by independent thoracic residency.
Ask a resident this: What is the program’s balance of cardiac, general thoracic, congenital and transplant operations, and who manages postoperative ICU care?
MD vs DO Match Outcomes
NRMP does not publish a directly comparable 2024 preferred-specialty MD/DO cohort for this training pathway.
Applicant Considerations
The 2024 NRMP general preferred-specialty table does not provide a directly comparable thoracic integrated MD/DO cohort for this profile.
DO Application Strategy
Confirm individual integrated program admissions and prior DO trainee experience, and investigate independent routes after general surgery where relevant.
Job Outlook
N/A
Projected Employment Growth
2025 to 2035, BLS occupational projection
No distinct employment forecast is published for this exact specialty.
AI and the Specialty
Potential Workflow Changes
Operative planning, risk prediction and imaging tools may improve; surgery and ICU decisions remain highly procedural.
Sources & Data Notes
Reviewed . National attending compensation uses Doximity's 2026 specialty survey (2025 pay) where available, then verified specialty-specific Medscape, Marit or Salary.com estimates. Doximity, Medscape and Marit report total compensation; Salary.com models base salary. Survey averages, modeled salaries and BLS wage medians measure different populations and must not be interpreted as identical metrics. BLS May 2025 state wages are shown separately and exclude self-employed physicians. The ophthalmology BLS category excludes pediatric ophthalmologists. State figures may be missing, top-coded, or suppressed. Job outlook uses BLS 2025–2035 occupational projections; it is not a local vacancy forecast. Resident stipend examples reflect published institutional scales for 2026 to 2027, by postgraduate year, not specialty. Stanford includes housing in its reported base salary; other institutions handle allowances differently.
The Relative Competitiveness Index uses a fixed score of 25 plus 1.75 times the 2024 U.S. MD preferred-specialty unmatched percentage, rounded, then applies the same 1.225 multiplier to every specialty. Neurological Surgery is 98/100; the score is not the applicant's chance of matching. It is not a 2026 estimate or DO-specific score. The MD and DO percentages compare different unadjusted applicant cohorts who ranked that specialty first. They do not account for application strategy, program selection, scores, or geography. Ophthalmology and urology have separate specialty match processes; other pathways may lack suitable NRMP cohorts.
The 1–5 Fellowship Expectation Index is an editorial assessment of customary career paths, not a measured participation rate or requirement. For residency profiles, compact training labels put specialty years before the clinical base or preliminary year; e.g. 3+1 means three specialty years and one clinical base year, even though the clinical year comes first. Fellowship-defined careers are presented in the separate fellowship explorer. Schedules, procedural scope, preparation suggestions, and potential AI effects depend on the program and practice setting; they are qualitative descriptions, not guaranteed outcomes or forecasts of physician replacement.
For Thoracic Surgery (Integrated): Doximity 2026, Average Total Compensation, reported under “Thoracic Surgery.” The national estimate must not be treated as a state-specific compensation figure.
Thoracic Surgery (Integrated): Editorial estimate of how fellowship shapes a career path. No observed fellowship uptake percentage is implied. Specialty-specific roadmaps describe illustrative activities, not mandatory publication, shadowing-hour, rotation, or skill requirements. Common fellowship routes: Congenital cardiac or transplant specialization may add training.