Overview
Cardiology is a long pathway: 3-year internal medicine residency + 3-year general cardiology fellowship (plus optional 1–2 additional years for EP/interventional). At $500K attending income, the math hinges heavily on whether training and practice are academic.
Physician salary & compensation
Median salary
$500K
Range
$430K – $700K
Source
MGMA 2025 / Doximity 2025
Residency training timeline
Training years
6–8y
PGY-1 salary
$65K
Annual growth
2.0%
Fellowship
3y · $80K
Most cardiology trainees follow a 6–8y track. PGY-1 pay starts around $65K with roughly 2.0% annual raises. An additional 3-year fellowship extends training and affects payoff timing.
PSLF & forgiveness strategy
Academic cardiology is strongly PSLF-eligible. Private cardiology groups (often hospital-contracted) are a mixed bag.
Our pick · PSLF if academic; aggressive payoff if private
Repayment recommendation
A 6-year academic training phase = 72 PSLF-qualifying months before attending. Combined with 4 more years of PSLF-qualifying attending, cardiology PSLF can forgive $200K+.
Run your numbers for CardiologyKey takeaways
- Interventional or EP fellowship adds 1–2 more years
- Long training phase = significant interest accrual unless federal IDR
- Capitalization only on refinance/attending phase matters a lot here
Ready to model your debt strategy?
Compare PSLF, refinancing, and aggressive payoff for your Cardiology scenario — pre-filled with the salary and training defaults from this page.
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