99.3 percent overall fill rate for positions in the 2026 Main Residency Match and SOAP^® combined

WASHINGTON, May 26, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Resident Matching Program^® (NRMP^®) has published its annual Results and Data: 2026 Main Residency Match^® report, providing a comprehensive overview of position fill rates, placement rates, and Match outcomes for applicants and residency training programs across the United States. The NRMP also has released an enhanced interactive dashboard for Charting Outcomes™: Demographic Characteristics of Applicants in the Main Residency Match^® and SOAP^® report, which examines the demographic characteristics of residency applicants.

"The data and analysis shared in the Results and Data: 2026 Main Residency Match^® is instrumental in informing national conversations about the transition to residency," said NRMP President and CEO Donna L. Lamb, DHSc, MBA, BSN. "By publishing up-to-date, accurate, and transparent applicant placement and position fill data, the NRMP helps guide and lead discussions and policy decisions that affect the medical education community and the broader healthcare system."

Applicant Highlights. In the 2026 Main Residency Match, nearly 80 percent of applicants who certified a rank order list ("active applicants") secured PGY-1 positions through the Match, consistent with last year's outcome. When including placements obtained through the Match and the Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program^® (SOAP^®), the overall placement rate for active applicants rose to 84.7 percent, a modest increase over 2025. Among the applicant groups:

• U.S. MD seniors totaled 20,934 active applicants in the 2026 Match, an increase of 566 over 2025. They achieved a PGY‑1 match rate of 93.5 percent and an overall placement rate of 97.8 percent, with nearly three‑quarters (73.5 percent) matching to one of their top three ranked programs.
  
  
  
  
• U.S. DO seniors continued to grow in the 2026 Match, with 8,503 active applicants, 111 more than in 2025. They achieved a PGY‑1 match rate of 93.2 percent—up 0.6 percentage points—and an overall placement rate of 98.5 percent, with more than three‑quarters (76.4 percent) matching to one of their top three ranked programs.
  
  
  
  
• U.S. citizen international medical graduates (IMGs) accounted for 4,210 active applicants in the 2026 Match, a decrease of 377 from 2025. They achieved a PGY‑1 match rate of 70 percent and an overall placement rate of 77.8 percent, with 80 percent of those who matched securing a position at one of their top three ranked programs.
  
  
  
  
• Non‑U.S. citizen IMGs comprised 11,944 active applicants in the 2026 Match, an increase of 479 from 2025. Non‑U.S. citizen IMGs increased in number but experienced slightly weaker outcomes, with a PGY‑1 match rate of 56.4 percent and an active applicant placement rate of 59.9 percent, both modestly lower than the year prior, even as most who matched secured one of their top three choices.

SOAP Results. The Results and Data report provides the first look at the results of the NRMP's Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program (SOAP) held during Match Week. SOAP provides eligible unmatched, partially matched, and registered applicants access to positions remaining unfilled after the matching algorithm. Of the 2,851 positions available through SOAP in 2026, 2,632 were filled, resulting in a 99.3 percent overall fill rate across the Match and SOAP combined.

Other Notable Trends

• Participation by non‑U.S. citizen IMGs continued to grow, with active applicants increasing by 51.9 percent between 2022 and 2026.
• A total of 1,258 couples participated in the 2026 Match, with 93 percent achieving a match when counting couples in which one or both partners matched.
• Family Medicine offered 5,491 positions; although 899 were unfilled after the algorithm, SOAP placements raised the overall fill rate to 98.6 percent.
• Psychiatry continued its expansion, offering 2,516 positions and achieving a strong 97.4 percent fill rate.

The Results and Data: 2026 Main Residency Match^® report is now available to download.

The enhanced interactive dashboard for the Charting Outcomes™: Demographic Characteristics of Applicants in the Main Residency Match^® and SOAP^® report has been redesigned to offer greater flexibility and a more intuitive experience for exploring the data. Users can now access clearer, more meaningful views of demographic characteristics by applicant type, Match and SOAP placement status, and specialty. In addition, the dashboard includes trend data, enabling comparisons of MRM applicant demographics across the past five Match cycles.

Visit NRMP's Match Data for additional data reports filtered by topics such as applicant demographics, application and recruitment, applicant type, fellowship outcomes, and residency outcomes.

About NRMP

The National Resident Matching Program^® (NRMP^®) is a private, non-profit organization established in 1953 at the request of medical students to provide an orderly and fair mechanism for matching the preferences of applicants for U.S. residency positions with the preferences of residency program directors. In addition to the annual Main Residency Match^® that facilitates placement for more than 50,000 registrants, the NRMP conducts Fellowship Matches through its Specialties Matching Service^® (SMS^®). The first SMS Fellowship Match was conducted in 1984 for Colon and Rectal Surgery. Since that time, the SMS has grown to encompass 22 separate Matches representing more than 80 subspecialties. The NRMP website provides a list of participating SMS Fellowship Matches, each including a summary statement, length of training, and applicant eligibility criteria

For additional information or to schedule an interview with NRMP President and CEO Donna L. Lamb, DHSc, MBA, BSN, contact media@nrmp.org. 

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SOURCE National Resident Matching Program