Specialty ROI Calculator
How fast can you be debt-free if you "Live Like a Resident"?
Specialty & Debt
Pay: Doximity Physician Compensation Report 2026, average annual compensation, 2025 survey data.
Default: 8.07%, the federal Direct Unsubsidized rate for graduate and professional loans first disbursed in 2026–27. Use your loans' weighted average rate if you know it.
Assumptions:
- Single Filer Tax Rate (~30%)
- Living Expenses: $80k/yr (Resident Lifestyle)
- All remaining cash goes to debt, paid monthly with interest
If you avoid lifestyle creep, you can pay off $250,000 in about 1.8 years.
(sends these numbers to Ask; we don't keep them)
Clinical Context & Calculation Details
How to Use This Calculator
Select a medical specialty to load its average annual compensation from the Doximity Physician Compensation Report 2026, then enter your total student loan debt and its interest rate. The calculator uses a standard "Live Like a Resident" model to determine how fast you can become debt-free.
The model assumes a 30% average tax rate and limits your post-tax living expenses to $80,000 a year, dedicating every remaining dollar to debt payoff.
Why Doctors Need This
The transition from a $60k resident salary to a $300k+ attending salary is a major financial shock. The most common mistake new attendings make is immediately upgrading their lifestyle (house, cars, vacations) to match their entire new income.
By temporarily maintaining a resident-level lifestyle (or slightly better at $80k), the sheer math of an attending salary can obliterate massive student loan debt in a shockingly short period of time.
The Math Behind It
Net Income: Gross Income × (1 - Effective Tax Rate).
Disposable Income for Debt: Net Income - $80,000 (Fixed Living Expenses).
Monthly Payment: Disposable Income for Debt / 12.
Months to Payoff: −ln(1 − r × Debt / Payment) / ln(1 + r), where r is the annual rate / 12. If the payment doesn't cover the first month's interest, the debt never pays off.
Pearls & Pitfalls
- Pearl: Continuing to "Live Like a Resident" for just 2 to 5 years after training is the single most reliable way to build a multi-million dollar net worth over your career.
- Pitfall: Assuming that your "high" physician income means debt doesn't matter. A $300k salary with $400k in student loans at 7% interest and an expensive luxury car lease is a recipe for a negative net worth in your 40s.
- Pearl: Earning a higher-paying specialty (like Orthopedics or Neurosurgery) drastically accelerates this timeline, allowing you to pay off massive debt in under 2 years if you maintain discipline.
Worked Example
The calculator's default inputs: Family medicine at $325,040 (the Doximity 2026 average) with $250,000 of student debt at 8.07%.
| Step | Calculation | Result |
|---|---|---|
| After-tax income | $325,040 × (1 − 30%) | $227,528 |
| Left for debt each year | $227,528 − $80,000 living expenses | $147,528 |
| Monthly payment | $147,528 ÷ 12 | $12,294 |
| Years to pay off | $250,000 at 8.07%, paid $12,294 a month | 1.8 years |
| Interest paid | total payments − debt | $19,735 |
Ignoring interest, the same payments would clear the debt in 1.7 years; interest adds about 2 months.
Assumptions & Sources
- Specialty pay is the Doximity Physician Compensation Report 2026 average (average annual compensation, 2025 survey data) for each of the 51 specialties it reports, the same figures our pay benchmark uses. Averages run above the median, and pay in your first years out of training is often lower.
- A flat 30% tax rate on all income and $80,000 a year of living expenses, with everything left over going to the loans ("live like a resident").
- Interest compounds monthly at one rate on the whole balance. The default, 8.07%, is the fixed rate on federal Direct Unsubsidized Loans for graduate and professional students first disbursed July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027 (Grad PLUS: 9.07%), per the U.S. Department of Education (studentaid.gov). Loans from earlier years carry their own fixed rates, and interest that builds during residency is not added, so enter your balance today and its weighted average rate.
- Training length, PSLF and income growth are not modeled.
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About the Author
Joshua Dunigan, DO | Family Medicine Resident & Founder
I'm a family medicine resident physician in Des Moines, Iowa (class of 2027). I founded MedMoneyGuide to give physicians specialty-specific financial guidance, with sources you can check.