Medical geneticists diagnose inherited disease and interpret what genomic testing means for a patient and their family. The caseload runs from newborns with metabolic crises through adults with a family history of cancer, and a growing share of the work is making sense of sequencing results that other specialties have ordered. It is one of the smallest physician specialties in the country.

This guide covers careers in medical genetics end to end, walking through all two accredited subspecialties, the years of training each one costs you, what the work earns and how competitive the path is.

Medical careers in medical genetics

Every path below is a formal, ACGME-accredited subspecialty you enter through a fellowship after medical genetics residency. Together they hold 81 physicians in training.

Scroll the table sideways to see every column.

Physicians in training as of the 2024-2025 academic year, from the ACGME Data Resource Book. A larger number means a larger field, not an easier one.

Our full guides go deeper on several of these roles, covering medical geneticist.

How long does medical genetics training take?

All of the careers in medical genetics on this page run through the same first eight years, and separate afterwards. Residency length is taken from the ACGME Data Resource Book for the 2024-2025 academic year.

1. Bachelor's degree, four years. Any major works, as long as you finish the medical school prerequisites and sit the MCAT.
2. Medical school, four years. Two years mostly preclinical, two years mostly in the hospital, with USMLE Step 1 and Step 2 along the way.
3. Medical Genetics residency, two years. Two years of residency after medical school, or a shorter combined track after another residency. Combined programmes with pediatrics, internal medicine and maternal-fetal medicine exist.
4. Fellowship, one to three years. Optional, and the route into the subspecialties listed below.

That is ten years from starting your bachelor's degree to practising independently, before any fellowship. How long medical school takes covers the middle four in detail.

How much do medical geneticists earn?

BLS does not publish a separate wage for medical geneticists. The closest official figure is its physicians, all other category, which had a median of $265,930 a year in 2025. Read it as the range the specialty sits inside rather than as its own number.

Figures from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, national estimates, 2025. Wages at the top of the scale are reported as equal to or greater than $239,200 in some categories, so a published median can sit below what practising physicians in the field report.

Earnings across careers in medical genetics swing more on setting and geography than on the specialty itself. Academic posts sit below private practice, and rural positions often sit above urban ones for the same work.

How competitive is medical genetics?

Every position offered was filled, which puts it among the most competitive fields in the match. A high share filled by US MD seniors means the field is drawing its residents from the domestic MD pool, which tightens the odds for everyone else.

Figures from NRMP Results and Data, 2026 Main Residency Match, Table 1A.

Match rates describe the field, not your application. What moves your own odds is your Step 2 score, your clinical grades, your letters and your research, and the odds of getting into medical school covers the stage before any of that.

How careers in medical genetics compare with the other specialties

Training length. Medical Genetics residency runs two years. Of the nineteen specialties on this site, 0 are shorter and two are the same length. The spread across all of them is two years to five.

Competition. Three of the fifteen specialties here that run through the main match fill a higher share of their positions with US MD seniors, which is the closest single proxy for how contested a field is.

Size of the field. BLS counts 342,720 people employed in the physicians, all other category. A larger field means more posts advertised and more geographic choice about where you practise.

None of these numbers should pick a specialty for you. They are the constraints you are choosing inside, and the choice itself comes down to whether the day-to-day work holds your attention for thirty years.

Skills and requirements for medical genetics

Where the work happens. Academic medical centres and children's hospitals, in clinic and on inpatient consultation, alongside genetic counsellors and laboratory scientists.

Who it suits. People who like molecular biology, who are patient with long diagnostic odysseys, and who want to work at the point where laboratory science meets a family in a room.

How you get in. Two years of residency after medical school, or a shorter combined track after another residency. Combined programmes with pediatrics, internal medicine and maternal-fetal medicine exist.

Before any of that, the requirements match every other route into medicine. You need a bachelor's degree, the prerequisite coursework, clinical and research experience, an MCAT score, and a complete medical school application.