The surgeon for kidneys, bladders and prostates. Thirteen years of training, then some of the best pay in medicine.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Counsellors: send it to a student from your own email in one click.
The median pay is about $265,930 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $69,170 at the lower end to about $452,360 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
13 to 14 years after high school, on the usual route.
$156,000 to $235,000 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
Yes. It is a regulated job, so you need a license or registration before you can work.
Moderate demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.
Or read the whole thing here
What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median for the group
$265,930
Bottom tenth
$69,170
Top tenth
$452,360
The national median for the group is $265,930 a year. The bottom tenth earn $69,170 or less and the top tenth $452,360 or more (2025 federal wage survey). That is the published figure for the urologist profile, taken from the broader Physicians, All Other survey group. It counts employees only, so urologists who own part of a practice are not in it.
$454,550 a year
The median for the Physicians, All Other group in North Dakota, the highest of any state
Montana is next at $438,850 and Maine at $419,410. The lowest is the District of Columbia, at $77,430. State medians from the 2025 federal wage survey, for the whole mixed group of doctors.
$75,651 to $92,060
One teaching hospital's 2026 to 2027 pay for residency years 1 to 5
That is Dartmouth Health's published scale. Each hospital sets its own. You are carrying medical school debt at the same time and working long weeks. 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.
Roughly, all in
$156,000 to $235,000
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
There is no cheap door. The low end is two years at a community college then two at an in state public university for the bachelor's degree, the Medical College Admission Test, with $1,000 to $3,000 in applications, four years of public in state medical school at roughly $30,000 a year, and the United States Medical Licensing Examination steps at several hundred dollars each. The high end is four full years of in state university at $12,000 a year and medical school at $45,000 a year. Private medical schools cost more again. Residency and the urology training years are paid work, not tuition. Most graduates borrow, and the debt is large.
File the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) every year. Most medical students borrow, and the debt is large. If you work at a nonprofit or government hospital, Public Service Loan Forgiveness can cancel the balance after 10 years of payments, and residency years count toward those 10.
Malpractice insurance paid for you
Employers almost always cover it. Buying surgical coverage yourself is expensive.
Signing bonuses and loan repayment
Hospitals outside big cities often offer both to recruit.
Ownership income
Partners in a urology group can share in a surgery center or a lab, on top of their clinical pay.
Job security
Hospitals need a urologist on call, and the federal projection expects steady demand.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
Thirteen years after high school, and urology is one of the harder specialties to match into.
High school
Grades 11 and 12
Top grades in biology, chemistry, physics and math. You are aiming at a competitive pre-medical undergraduate spot.
Bachelor's degree
4 years
Any major, but you must finish the pre-medical science courses. Keep a high GPA, get research and clinical experience, and write the MCAT (Medical College Admission Test).
Medical school
4 years
Two years of science, then two years of clinical rotations. Do a urology rotation early: this specialty is decided on relationships and letters.
Urology residency
5 years
Five years, starting with a year of general surgery before you move into urology proper. Long hours, heavy call, operating from early on.
Board certification
1 to 3 years after residency
The American Board of Urology requires a written qualifying examination, then a certifying examination taken after you have been in practice.
Biology and chemistry
Required for every pre-medical program.
Physics
Tested on the MCAT (Medical College Admission Test), and useful for imaging and laser work.
Calculus and statistics
You will read clinical studies for the rest of your career.
English
Half of surgery is explaining a frightening diagnosis to a person who is not listening well.
To practice you need a medical license from the state medical board where you work, earned by finishing medical school and passing all three steps of the United States Medical Licensing Examination. Board certification in urology is separate and comes from the American Board of Urology, which runs a qualifying examination and then a certifying examination and requires you to keep proving competence for the rest of your career. Hospitals will not give you operating privileges without both.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Urologic oncology
Kidney, bladder and prostate cancer surgery. One to two extra years.
Pediatric urology
A subspecialty certification offered by the American Board of Urology.
Endourology and stone disease
Minimally invasive work through scopes and lasers.
Urogynecology and reconstructive pelvic surgery
A second subspecialty certification, shared with gynecology.
Research during medical school
Urology applicants are expected to have published something.
Robotic surgery experience
Urology led the way on robotic surgery and most programs now train on it.
Rural or underserved commitments
State loan repayment programs will pay a large part of your debt for a few years of service.
Good hands and steady sleep habits
Both matter more than people admit.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Operating days start about 7am: kidney stones, prostate procedures, cancer surgery, often on a robotic system. Clinic days are 25 to 35 patients, mostly older men and women with problems they are embarrassed to describe. In between, scans to read, results to call, and a ward round. You take call in rotation, and a blocked kidney at 2am is a real emergency.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Much of the work goes in through natural openings with a scope, or through keyhole ports on a robotic system. Patients often go home the same day from an operation that used to mean a week in hospital.
About 11% of men and 6% of women in the United States have a kidney stone at least once in their lives, and the NIDDK (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases) says stones are on the rise. Stone work alone keeps urology departments busy.
When O*NET (Occupational Information Network) surveyed urologists, 64% said a new hire needs training beyond the doctorate, meaning residency, and 33% a doctoral degree.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Surgeons first, then the rest of the field. See every career in health.
Last checked November 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in United States dollars, based on Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data and published pay scales. They vary by state, employer and experience. Tuition is for in-state students at public schools unless the card says otherwise. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.
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