Surgical specialty
Urology: Salary, Residency & Career Guide
Surgical and medical treatment of urinary tract disease and male reproductive health.
Typical Training
5 years
Five-year urology residency; AUA Match.
Attending Compensation
$566,740
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
$566,740
Average Total Compensation
BLS does not publish a separately matched state wage series for this specialty.
Resident Pay by Institution
Five-year urology residency; AUA Match..
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
Stone clinics, cystoscopy and scheduled robotic operations alternate with urgent urinary obstruction, infected stones and postoperative complications. Call differs substantially by community versus academic practice.
Practice Settings
Urology clinics, operating rooms, outpatient procedure suites and hospitals.
Procedures and Clinical Work
- Cystoscopy and ureteroscopy
- Stone procedures
- Prostate surgery
- Robotic pelvic surgery
Fellowship Training
Fellowship Expectation Index
3 / 5
Fellowship Options
Common Fellowship Duration: 1–3 year(s) beyond residency. Urologic oncology, endourology and pediatric urology have distinct fellowship lengths.
General urology remains a viable career, while urologic oncology, pediatrics and reconstructive urology often use dedicated fellowships.
Direct Practice
Common urinary tract, stone, prostate and general urologic care.
Specialized Practice
Pediatric urology and certain advanced cancer and reconstructive surgical roles are fellowship-defined.
Choosing a Path
Observe benign urology and oncologic robotics before identifying a subspecialty destination.
Potential Fellowship Pathways
- Urologic oncology
- Pediatric urology
- Female pelvic medicine
- Endourology
Preparing in M1 Through M4
Observe office cystoscopy, stone procedures and a prostate cancer discussion. Urologists make procedural decisions within a long-term outpatient relationship.
Research or QI
A kidney stone recurrence audit, prostate cancer decision-making study or catheter complication project offers a coherent clinical question.
Common Mistake
Equating urology with robotic surgery while missing benign urinary symptoms, chronic disease and emergency obstruction.
Preparation by Year
- 1Shadow urology clinic and a procedure service; review how patients choose surgery versus medical management.
- 2Identify a urology faculty mentor and familiarize yourself with the AUA Match timeline.
Ask a resident this: How do you divide time between benign outpatient urology, endoscopy, robotics and emergency call?
MD vs DO Match Outcomes
Urology uses the American Urological Association Match, not the NRMP Main Residency Match.
Applicant Considerations
Urology uses a separate AUA Match, so there is no comparable NRMP Main Match MD/DO preferred-specialty rate on this page.
DO Application Strategy
Review AUA or Society of Academic Urologists specialty applicant data, DO trainee history and score policies. Seek a urologist who can evaluate your clinical contributions.
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
Imaging triage, robotic assistance and patient communication tools may evolve; procedures remain physician-directed.
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 Urology: Doximity 2026, Average Total Compensation, reported under “Urology.” The national estimate must not be treated as a state-specific compensation figure.
Urology: 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: Urologic oncology, endourology and pediatric urology have distinct fellowship lengths.