Urologist Salary (2026), outlook and how to become one

The credential path, step by step

1. 1
   Complete medical school and the licensing examinations4 years of medical school

   An MD from an LCME-accredited programme or a DO from a COCA-accredited college, then USMLE Step 1, Step 2 CK and Step 3, or COMLEX-USA Levels 1, 2 and 3. USMLE Step 1 has been pass or fail for exams taken on or after 26 January 2022; Step 2 CK remains numerically scored with a minimum passing score of 218.

2. 2
   Match through the urology early match, not the main match

   Urology runs its own match, administered by the American Urological Association and governed by the Society of Academic Urologists, and it concludes before the NRMP main match. NRMP itself lists urology under early matches and notes that US MD and DO seniors in it are no longer required to register with the Main Residency Match to obtain the PGY-1 year. Applications still go through ERAS, and accepting the preference list is a formal, binding commitment, which is also why couples matching is not available.

3. 3
   Complete the 60-month urology residency60 months

   The ACGME sets the programme at 60 months. The first year must include six months of core surgical education outside urology, of which three months are general surgery rotations and three months are other non-urological surgery, plus three months of urology and three months at the programme director's discretion. Within the final 24 months, residents must serve at least 12 months as a chief resident. Because the first year sits inside the urology programme rather than being a separate preliminary year, there is nothing extra to match into.

4. 4
   Pass the ABU Qualifying (Part 1) Examination

   You may enter the certification process after completing at least six months of chief residency in an approved US or Canadian programme. The examination is 300 multiple-choice questions, of which 200 are previously tested questions used to grade candidates, delivered at Pearson VUE over two three-hour periods. The ABU also requires a minimum of 48 months dedicated to urology training within at least five clinical years of postgraduate training, with up to 3 months of PGY-1 urology counting toward the 48.

5. 5
   Practise for 16 months and log six of themAt least 16 months

   This is the step that surprises people. Before the oral examination you must have engaged in at least 16 months of urological practice with primary patient responsibility in a single community, an academic institution or the Armed Forces, and a fellowship earns a four-month credit toward it. You must then submit logs of all office visits and of hospital, ambulatory care and office procedures for every facility where you practise, covering the same consecutive six-month period, signed under a Practice Log Verification Statement attesting that the log is true, complete and accurate. There is no minimum case count, but a practice experience well below the norm for the peer group may delay certification. Confidential peer review questionnaires are collected from the Chief of Urology or Surgery, the Chief of Anesthesiology and the Chief of Staff at each facility where you perform at least 50 cases a year.

6. 6
   Pass the Certifying (Part 2) oral Examination

   Held annually in March in Raleigh, North Carolina, as two 45-minute encounters with different examiners, made up of three objective structured clinical examinations and three protocols. The OSCE component was added in 2023. Candidates have six years from the end of residency to complete the process and no more than three attempts at each examination; failing means repeating the urology portion of an ACGME-accredited residency to re-enter.

7. 7
   Consider a subspecialty certificate

   The ABU offers two. Pediatric Urology, offered since 2008 and administered every other year, requires at least 24 months in an approved pediatric urology training programme, a practice at least 75 percent pediatric, and a 12-month practice log demonstrating it. Urogynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery, co-sponsored with the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology, requires a current unrestricted urology certificate, an ACGME-accredited fellowship of at least 24 months and a 12-month practice log. It was renamed from Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery, approved by ABMS in June 2023 and effective 1 January 2024, so both names appear in older material.

Exams you have to pass

• ABU Qualifying (Part 1) Examination

  300 multiple-choice questions of which 200 are previously tested questions used to grade candidates, taken over two three-hour periods on one of three consecutive mid-July dates. Open to residents who will have completed at least six months of chief residency by 30 June of the examination year.

  Administered by American Board of Urology, delivered at Pearson VUE.

• ABU Certifying (Part 2) Examination

  An oral examination held each March in Raleigh, North Carolina: two 45-minute encounters with different examiners composed of three objective structured clinical examinations and three protocols, the OSCE element having been added in 2023. It can only be taken after 16 months of practice, an acceptable six-month practice log and peer review.

  Administered by American Board of Urology.

Who governs the credential

• American Board of Urology (ABU)

  Certifies urologists through the two-part Qualifying and Certifying examinations with a practice and practice-log requirement between them, issues the pediatric urology and URPS subspecialty certificates, and runs Continuing Urologic Certification.

• Society of Academic Urologists (SAU)

  Governs the urology residency match, which runs ahead of the NRMP main match and produces a formal, binding commitment.

• Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)

  Accredits urology residencies and the pediatric urology and URPS fellowships, and sets the 60-month programme length.