The 14 medical careers with the highest student loan debt (2024)

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The 14 medical careers with the highest student loan debt? ›

1. Oral Surgeon. Even with a relatively high salary, oral surgeons typically graduate with a large student loan burden. The debt has a significant effect on their professional and personal decisions for decades to come, according to the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons.

1. Oral Surgeon. Even with a relatively high salary, oral surgeons typically graduate with a large student loan burden. The debt has a significant effect on their professional and personal decisions for decades to come, according to the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons.

Arts and Humanities majors who attended non-selective schools are the most likely to default on their student loans. 17.7% is the default rate among Black/African American student borrowers. 13% and 9% are the default rates for Hispanic/Latino and White/Caucasian student borrowers, respectively.

The major with the largest amount of debt for a Bachelor's degree is Behavior Sciences at $42,822. The major with the least amount of debt for a Bachelor's degree is Science Technologies/Technicians at $9,529.

The majority of students in the health professions of pharmacy, medicine, dentistry, optometry, and veterinary medicine accrue large amounts of total educational debt by the time they graduate, typically between $100,000 and $200,000.

The highest-income 40% of households (those with incomes above $74,000) owe almost 60% of student loan debt. These borrowers make almost three-quarters of student loan payments. The lowest-income 40% of households hold just under 20% of student loans and make only 10% of the payments.

Our experience advising chiropractors suggests they have the highest average debt to income ratios of any profession. It's unfortunate because the profession requires four years of chiropractic schooling.

Mostly the U.S. government. According to the office of Federal Student Aid, $1.62 trillion, or 93% of all student loan debt, is federal student loans. The remaining $131 billion (7%) is owed to private lenders, according to this Q3 2021 report from MeasureOne.

In 2021, Americans' median student loan debt was between $20,000-$25,000. However, average student loan debt varies dramatically by race. Black adults in particular tend to bear the highest burdens across indicators, from student loan borrowing rates to default rates to average debt.

What is the richest type of doctor? ›

What Are the Highest-Paid Doctors in the US? The highest-paid doctors are neurosurgeons who report earning above $780,000 per year on average.

Zoom in: South Dakota (17.7%), Mississippi (15.2%), North Carolina (13.4%), West Virginia (13.3%) and Georgia (12.7%) had the highest shares of adults with medical debt on average between 2019-2021. During that time, West Virginia was the only one of those states with expanded Medicaid coverage for low-income adults.

Among all medical schools ranked for both primary care and research that reported average graduate indebtedness, New York University had the lowest: about $85,000.

Click here for the ready-to-go slides for this Question of the Day that you can use in your classroom. Behind the numbers (WSJ): Due to escalating tuition and easy credit, the U.S. has 101 people who owe at least $1 million in federal student loans, according to the Education Department.

Georgia has a higher prevalence of student loan debt and more student debt per capita than any other state. Maryland is the state with the highest average student loan debt. Wyoming and Utah have lower student debt per capita than other states.

Women owe a disproportionately high amount of the total student loan debt. Women are also more likely to have high amounts of debt. Some of this is likely due to the fact that female bachelor's degree holders are paid 80% of what their male peers make.

If you're a recent college graduate with a mountain of student loan debt — say $100,000 or more — paying off such a large amount could be a major struggle. For example, if you're making payments on federal student loans under the standard 10-year repayment plan, your minimum monthly payment might be quite daunting.