Match Day Relocation Budget

Enter the distance you expect to move for residency, your household size, and your target monthly rent in your new city.

The calculator estimates the upfront cash you will need on hand to successfully relocate and secure housing before your first residency paycheck arrives.

Match Day is incredibly exciting, but the financial reality of moving across the country in May/June can be brutal. Medical students graduate with massive debt and virtually no cash, yet must immediately fund a major relocation.

Most residency programs do not pay relocation stipends upfront. The few that do usually add it to your first paycheck in late July, long after you've had to put down a security deposit and rent a moving truck.

Total Relocation Fund: Estimated Moving Costs + (Rent × 1.5 for deposit/first month) + Setup Costs (utilities, basic furniture).

Moving costs scale heavily based on distance (truck rental, gas, hotels) and family size (more belongings, larger truck).

• Pearl: If you are completely broke on Match Day, look into Residency Relocation Loans from specialized lenders (e.g., Sallie Mae, Discover, or physician-specific banks). They disburse cash directly to you in the spring.
• Pitfall: Underestimating setup costs. Turning on electricity, water, and internet often requires establishing new accounts and paying connection fees or deposits if you don't have a long credit history.
• Pearl: Keep all your moving receipts! While the federal moving expense tax deduction was suspended in 2018 for most people, certain states still allow you to deduct moving expenses on your state income tax return.