Ear, Nose and Throat Surgeon

What the pay looks like

Ear, nose and throat surgeons are not counted on their own. They sit inside a group called Surgeons, All Other, a mix of surgical specialties. In the 2025 federal wage survey that group's median is $414,010 a year, the bottom tenth earn $80,320 or less and the top tenth $655,320 or more. The figures cover the whole group and only surgeons paid a wage, so those who own part of their practice are missing.

While you are a resident

Five paid years in the hospital, while your medical school loans keep growing behind you. Each hospital sets its own scale, and this one is in a high cost city. Nationally, the AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) survey of 345 teaching hospitals puts the average first-year stipend at $68,166 as of July 1, 2025, and about $81,807 in the fifth year. Read from the AAMC's data, downloaded in a browser with Claude in Chrome on 6 November 2026, because aamc.org refuses our checker.

The top quarter of the group

Unlike most surgical specialties, a large share of this work happens in a clinic: hearing loss, sinus disease, hoarse voices, children with repeated ear infections. A full clinic feeds the operating list, so the two are not separable.

What it costs to get there

Most graduates borrow, and the debt is large. At this income it clears quickly, or you can use Public Service Loan Forgiveness after 10 years at a nonprofit or public hospital if you go the academic route.

Benefits

• Malpractice insurance paid

  Covered by the hospital or the group, and it is expensive cover for any surgeon.

• Surgery center ownership

  Many procedures in this field happen in outpatient surgery centers, and surgeons who own a share of one earn from the facility as well as the operation.

• Signing bonuses and loan repayment

  Common outside big cities, because smaller hospitals struggle to recruit surgeons.

• A controllable schedule

  Most of the work is planned rather than emergency, so nights and weekends are lighter than in general or trauma surgery.

The path to becoming an ear, nose and throat surgeon, step by step

Thirteen years after high school, and the residency match for this specialty is one of the most competitive in medicine.

1. 1

   High school

   Grades 11 and 12

   Biology, chemistry, physics and math, with the grades to get into a strong college program.

2. 2

   Bachelor's degree

   4 years

   Any major, as long as you finish the pre-medical science courses and sit the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT).

3. 3

   Medical school

   4 years

   Two years of science, two years of hospital rotations. You graduate as a Doctor of Medicine (MD) or a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO).

4. 4

   Otolaryngology residency

   5 years

   Five years covering ears, sinuses, airway, voice, head and neck cancer and facial reconstruction. Assigned by a national computer match.

5. 5

   Board certification

   After residency

   Written and oral examinations from the American Board of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery.

6. 6

   Optional fellowship

   1 to 2 years

   One or two more years in a sub-area such as ear surgery, cancer, children or facial plastic surgery.

High school courses that help you become an ear, nose and throat surgeon

• Biology

  The head and neck is the most anatomically crowded region in the body and you will learn every millimeter of it.

• Physics

  Sound, pressure and airflow are literally the subject matter of this specialty.

• Chemistry

  A pre-medical requirement everywhere, with no way around it.

• Art, music or anything with your hands

  Microsurgery on structures the size of a grain of rice rewards manual skill more than most jobs admit.

Time and money, at a glance

State license, national exams

Every state licenses doctors through its own medical board, and you hold a license in each state where you work. The exams are national: the three steps of the United States Medical Licensing Examination during medical school and residency, then written and oral board examinations from the American Board of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. The formal name of the specialty is otolaryngology, head and neck surgery, which is why almost everybody, including hospitals, says ear, nose and throat instead.

Fellowships that change the job

• Otology and neurotology

  Ear surgery, hearing implants and balance disorders. The most microscopic work in the field.

• Head and neck oncology

  Cancer of the mouth, throat, voice box and thyroid, with reconstruction afterwards. Long operations, serious stakes.

• Pediatric otolaryngology

  Children's airways, ears and tonsils at a children's hospital.

• Rhinology

  Sinuses and skull base surgery done entirely through the nose with an endoscope.

• Facial plastic and reconstructive surgery

  Reconstruction after cancer or trauma, plus cosmetic work. One of two routes into facial plastic surgery.

Nice-to-haves

• Research during medical school

  This residency match is competitive enough that research output is close to expected.

• Steady hands and good stereo vision

  Much of the work is through a microscope or an endoscope, in a space a few millimeters across.

• Comfort with cameras and screens

  Endoscopes turned this specialty into screen-guided surgery. If that appeals, it is a good sign.

• Patience for clinic

  If you only want to operate, look at another surgical specialty. Half of this job is talking to people in an office.

Who else works on ears and voices

You share these patients with people who trained far more quickly. Audiologists test hearing and fit hearing aids, and get there in about eight years. Speech-language pathologists treat voice and swallowing problems after six or seven. Hearing instrument specialists work with a license and far less school. If the subject interests you more than the surgery, those are real careers in the same clinic, and the surgeon is usually the person they refer to rather than the person doing most of the care.

What an ear, nose and throat surgeon does day to day

On an operating day you start early: perhaps a child having ear tubes and tonsils out in 40 minutes, then a sinus operation through an endoscope, then something long like removing a throat cancer and rebuilding what is left. On a clinic day you see 20 or more people: a hoarse teacher, a man who cannot breathe through his nose, a baby with repeated ear infections, an older patient losing their hearing. You scope noses and throats in the office all afternoon, and the interesting ones become next month's operating list.

The honest pros and cons of being an ear, nose and throat surgeon

Work life

Similar paths

• General SurgeonThirteen years of training to become the person who opens someone up and fixes the problem.
• AudiologistTest hearing and balance, then fit the devices that give it back. A four-year clinical doctorate, and a job in every town.
• Speech-Language PathologistYou help people talk, be understood and swallow safely, from toddlers to stroke patients. A master's degree is the price of entry.

Ear tubes are one of the most common childhood operations

Putting tiny drainage tubes into the eardrums of children with repeated ear infections takes a few minutes per ear and is performed constantly. Tonsil removal is in the same category. A lot of this specialty is small operations done extremely often.

A surgeon can give someone hearing

Cochlear implants bypass a damaged inner ear and send signal straight to the hearing nerve. They are placed by ear surgeons, and for a child born deaf the device can mean growing up hearing speech.

Sinus surgery leaves no scar

Modern sinus and even some skull base operations are done entirely through the nostrils with an endoscope and a screen. Nothing is cut on the outside of the face, which is why the recovery is nothing like it was a generation ago.