How we research and update this site
Every number on AmericanMedicalBoards.com comes from a public record that you can check yourself. This page explains where each figure comes from, how we decide what a state's rule is, how often we re-check it, and what happens when we get something wrong.
Our editorial principles
- Primary sources first. A state's training requirement is taken from the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) tables and then checked against the board's own website, rules or statute. Where the two disagree, we follow the board and say so on the state page.
- One rule, stated plainly. Each state page leads with the minimum years of accredited postgraduate training a board requires before a full, unrestricted license, for U.S./Canadian graduates and for international medical graduates (IMGs) separately. Waivers and exceptions go in a "Details and exceptions" note rather than changing the headline figure.
- Dated, not timeless. Every page shows the date its data was last checked and the as-of date of each source. Laws that are enacted but not yet in effect are labelled that way and are not counted as operative.
- Independent of advertisers. Advertising is served by Google AdSense. Advertisers do not see content before publication, cannot buy placement in our data, and have no say in which states, schools, lenders or programs we mention.
- Not advice. We summarise rules so you can compare states and ask the right questions. The state medical board is always the final authority.
Sources behind each figure
| What we show | Source | Current as of |
|---|---|---|
| Residency years for U.S./Canadian graduates | FSMB, State Specific Requirements for Initial Medical Licensure; state board rules | April 2026 |
| Residency years for IMGs | FSMB IMG graduate medical education requirements chart; state board rules | April 2026 |
| Alternative IMG licensure pathways | FSMB additional IMG licensure pathways chart; enacted bills on state legislature websites | October 2026 |
| Active physicians per 100,000 residents | AAMC State Physician Workforce Data | 2023 data (2025 Data Book) |
| Average physician pay | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) | May 2023 OEWS |
| Primary-care shortage need | HRSA Health Professional Shortage Area data, as compiled by KFF | December 31, 2025 |
| State boundaries on the maps | U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files (public domain) | Current release |
Requirements shown are for allopathic (MD) licensing boards. Several states have a separate osteopathic (DO) board whose rules can differ; where that matters we say so in the state's notes.
The monthly review
On or about the first of every month we:
- Compare every state's training minimums with the latest FSMB tables and look for board announcements, emergency rules and fee or form changes.
- Check the status of every pending and enacted IMG pathway bill: whether it passed, when it takes effect, and whether the board has opened applications.
- Refresh workforce, wage and shortage figures when their publishers release new data.
- Rebuild the site. The build refuses to publish if any state is missing a figure, a date is malformed or any internal link is broken, so a bad edit never reaches the live site.
- Record what changed, and which states it affected, in the update log. Each state page also lists its own change history.
The most recent check was completed on November 1, 2026; the next is scheduled for December 1, 2026.
How the demand and hiring indexes work
Hospital hiring plans are not public, so we do not claim to count open jobs. Instead we use public proxies:
- Physician demand score (home map). States are ranked by active physicians per 100,000 residents. The rank is converted to a 0–100 percentile, where 100 means the fewest physicians per capita. The map's five colour bands each hold about a fifth of the states.
- Hiring-demand index (jobs map). A weighted percentile of four measures: physician supply (45%), the share of primary-care shortage need that is unmet (25%), the number of practitioners needed to remove every shortage designation (15%), and average physician pay (15%). Higher means stronger likely demand for physicians.
Both are comparisons between states, not forecasts for any specialty, city or employer. The District of Columbia is not ranked on supply because its per-capita figure is not comparable with the states.
Corrections policy
If you find something out of date or wrong, email contact@americanmedicalboards.com with the state, what the page says now, and a link to the rule, statute or board notice that shows the change. We verify every report against the primary source. Confirmed corrections are published in the next monthly update at the latest, and noted in the update log and on the affected state page.
What this site does not do
We do not process applications, verify credentials, check license status, or give legal, immigration, career or financial advice. Contact the state medical board, ECFMG/Intealth, or a qualified professional for those. See About us and the legal disclaimer at the bottom of every page.