August 11, 2025
Written By
Michael Minh Le
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If you want to understand where women in medicine truly stand today, you have to look at the numbers. The headlines only tell part of the story. Real progress, persistent gaps, and surprising trends come into focus when you dig into acceptance rates, specialty representation, pay differences, and leadership positions.
In this article, we’ll break down the most up-to-date data on women in medicine: how many are applying to medical school, which specialties they’re entering, what they earn compared to their male counterparts, and more. You’ll see exactly what the numbers say and how they’ve shifted over the years.
I’ve spent years mentoring future doctors and helping them navigate the premed and med school process, and one thing is clear: understanding the stats gives you an edge. It helps you see opportunities, anticipate challenges, and build a career with both eyes open to the realities of the field. Let’s jump into the data.
In the 2024–2025 academic year, women made up about 55.1% of all medical school matriculants in the U.S. This is continuing a six-year streak of majority representation. To be more specific, roughly 12,749 women matriculated, which is up from 12,723 the previous year.
As of early 2025, women make up about 38.7% of all professionally active physicians in the United States. That’s about 427,752 doctors out of 1.1 million.
While some surveys report higher percentages, such as over 50%, those typically measure only employed physicians within certain datasets rather than the full active physician workforce.
Yes, women are increasingly entering the physician workforce. The share of female licensed physicians rose from 30% in 2010 to 37% in 2022. That’s a 54% increase in the number of female doctors over that period, compared to just an 11% increase for male physicians.
More recent numbers show a gradual rise from 38% in 2022 and 37% in 2021, to 38.7% in 2025.
In the U.S., pediatrics leads with 66% female physicians as of 2022, followed by obstetrics & gynecology at 62%, diabetes & endocrinology at 54%, and dermatology at 53%.
Other specialties with high female representation include family medicine (49%) and psychiatry (44%).
The specialties with the lowest representation of female physicians are overwhelmingly surgical and procedural. Orthopedic surgery had the lowest share at just 5.3%, followed by thoracic surgery at 7.0% and interventional cardiology at 7.7%.
In the U.S., only 15% of health systems’ CEOs and 15.8% of health insurance group CEOs are women; women fill between 20% and 50% of senior executive and board positions.
In 2023–2024, 45% of full-time faculty in U.S. medical schools were women. That’s a notable rise from 38% in 2013.
However, the representation of women in senior academic roles remains significantly lower: just 32% of associate professors, 20% of full professors, 14% of department chairs, and 11% of medical school deans are women.
In 2024, male physicians earned an average of $400,000 compared to $309,000 for female physicians. That’s a 29% gap.
Disparities are even greater in certain specialties: women specialists earn 31% less than men, while women in primary care earn 17% less. In family medicine, the adjusted pay gap is 16%, which translates to roughly $1.8 million less over a 30-year career.
Over the span of a physician’s working life, this pay inequality can accumulate to between $2 million and $4.4 million less for women compared to their male counterparts.
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American Medical Association. (2024, February 6). Medical student diversity sees uptick—now women are the majority. AMA. https://www.ama-assn.org/education/medical-school-diversity/medical-student-diversity-sees-uptick-now
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Ellison, A. (2022, May 9). 29 specialties by percentage of female physicians. Becker’s Hospital Review. https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/quality/hospital-physician-relationships/29-specialties-by-percentage-of-female-physicians
Federation of State Medical Boards. (2023). U.S. physician workforce: FSMB physician census 2022. FSMB. https://www.fsmb.org/advocacy/news-releases/fsmb-physician-census-identifies--1044734-licensed-physicians-in-u-s/
JAMA Network Open. (2021). Representation of women in the leadership structure of U.S. health systems and health insurance groups. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2786684
Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine. (2024). Lifetime impact of the gender wage gap in family medicine. JABFM, 38(2), 373–380. https://www.jabfm.org/content/38/2/373
Kaiser Family Foundation. (2025). Physicians by gender. https://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/physicians-by-gender
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