The longest path on this site, and one of the highest paid. Ten years, then a job for life.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Good for a wall or a guidance counsellor.
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What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Typical net
$240,000
Part-time or new
$150,000
Busy or rural
$400,000
Most family doctors bill the provincial health plan per visit. CIHI (Canadian Institute for Health Information) puts average gross payments at about $325,000 a year (2023 to 2024), and Job Bank lists a median of about $230,000. After office rent and staff, net income is usually $200,000 to $280,000.
$65,000 to $80,000
Salary as a resident, years 1 and 2 after medical school
Residents are paid employees. It is real money, but you are also carrying the debt from med school.
$50,000 to $150,000 extra
Signing bonuses, retention payments and loan forgiveness
Small towns across Canada are short on doctors and pay heavily to attract them. Federal loan forgiveness alone is up to $60,000 for rural family doctors.
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is a three year undergraduate degree plus a cheaper medical school, the MCAT (Medical College Admission Test) and applications, and the two licensing exams. The high end is a four year undergraduate degree and an Ontario medical school charging close to twenty eight thousand dollars a year. Residency is paid work, so it adds no tuition, but it does come with several more years of modest income while the debt sits there. Quebec students at Quebec schools pay a fraction of this, and typical debt at graduation nationally runs eighty thousand to one hundred fifty thousand dollars once living costs and interest are added.
Typical debt at graduation is $80,000 to $150,000. Quebec students at Quebec schools pay a fraction of this.
Fee-for-service
Bill the province per visit or procedure. Most common.
Capitation
Fixed amount per patient on your roster per year. Common in Ontario family health organizations.
Salary
Community health centres, some hospitals and the North.
Blended
Mix of the above, increasingly the norm.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
Long, competitive, and very structured.
High school
Grades 11 and 12
Top marks in biology, chemistry, math and English. You need a very high average to get into a pre-med undergrad.
Bachelor's degree
3 to 4 years
Any major works, but most take life sciences. Keep a GPA (grade point average) above 3.8, do research and volunteer. Write the MCAT (medical school admission test).
Medical school (MD, doctor of medicine)
3 to 4 years
19 schools in Canada, the newest opening in 2026. Acceptance rates are 5 to 15%. Two years of classes, then two years of clinical rotations. McMaster and Calgary run 3-year programs.
Family medicine residency
2 years
Matched through CaRMS (the national residency matching service). Paid, supervised practice in clinics and hospitals.
Licensing and certification
During and after residency
Pass the MCCQE Part 1 (the national medical exam) and the CCFP exam (family medicine certification), then register with your provincial College of Physicians and Surgeons.
Biology and chemistry
Required for nearly every pre-med path.
Calculus and functions
Physics
On the MCAT (medical school admission test).
English
Communication is half the job, and the MCAT tests reasoning.
You need a licence from your provincial College of Physicians and Surgeons to practise. The College can investigate complaints, restrict your licence, and requires ongoing education. Family doctors are also certified by the College of Family Physicians of Canada (the CCFP designation).
Things you don't need, but that help.
Emergency medicine (CCFP-EM)
One extra year. Work emergency room (ER) shifts, often higher hourly pay.
Sports medicine, palliative care, addiction medicine
One-year enhanced skills programs.
Obstetrics
Delivering babies as a family doctor. Rewarding, and in short supply.
Hospitalist work
Caring for admitted patients on shifts instead of running a clinic.
Research experience
Publications help at some schools.
Long-term volunteering
Quality and consistency beat quantity.
French
Opens the door to Ottawa, New Brunswick and Quebec programs.
A rural background
Many schools give rural applicants a boost.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Twenty to forty patient visits, each about 10 to 15 minutes: check-ups, prescriptions, referrals, mental health, chronic disease. Then paperwork: charting, lab results, forms, phone calls. Family doctors who run their own clinic are also small business owners managing rent, staff and billing.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
About 5.9 million adults in Canada have no regular family doctor, nurse practitioner or primary care team, according to the 2025 OurCare survey. Every province is trying to recruit, which is why the job security is total.
Four sections covering biology, chemistry, physics, psychology and critical reasoning. Most people study for 3 to 6 months.
CaRMS, the residency matching service, matches graduating students to residency spots using the same algorithm that won a Nobel Prize in economics. You rank programs, they rank you, the computer decides.
Quebec residents at Quebec medical schools pay around $4,000 to $5,000 a year, versus $25,000 or more at the University of Toronto.
Last checked September 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students.