Wisconsin·Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations·SOC 29-1242

Best programs to become an orthopedic surgeon in Wisconsin

2 Wisconsin schools offer programs that train orthopedic surgeons, graduating 416 people a year. Orthopedic surgeons in Wisconsin earn a median of $572,060 across about 290 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

BLS lists a doctoral or professional degree as the typical entry-level education for orthopedic surgeons. The field of study that leads most directly to this job in Wisconsin is Medicine (IPEDS completions).

Diagnose and perform surgery to treat and prevent rheumatic and other diseases in the musculoskeletal.

Also calledSurgeonPhysicianHand SurgeonOrthopedic SurgeonDoctorTrauma DoctorSpinal SurgeonTrauma Surgeon
Graduates / yr
416
in Wisconsin
Median pay · Wisconsin
$572,060
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
290
people employed
Schools
2
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
90%
across those schools
Median net price
—
per year, IPEDS

1 program in Wisconsin that leads to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Wisconsin (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own Wisconsin page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1
CIP 51.1201In Wisconsin →
416
100.0%
2$33,290$23,488

Top 2 schools in Wisconsin

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 0 of the 2 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Medical College of Wisconsin
Milwaukee, WI Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder program
249Medicine————
2University of Wisconsin - Madison
Madison, WI Public · 1 feeder program
167Medicine—90%—45%

All 2 schools in Wisconsin

Every school in Wisconsin with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.

All schools in Wisconsin that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Medical College of WisconsinMilwaukeePrivate not-for-profit2491
University of Wisconsin - MadisonMadisonPublic1671

Fields of study in Wisconsin that lead to this job

Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.

What orthopedic surgeons earn in Wisconsin

What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.

Median annual in Wisconsin
$572,060
Mean annual
$535,750
Jobs in state
290
Versus the national median
+59.5%

U.S. median $358,550. Wisconsin pays above the national figure.

Job concentration
1.08×

1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.

Metro areas in Wisconsin, by employment

Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI
90jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+4.1%
About as fast as average
Openings per year
400
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
600
14,700 → 15,300
Typical entry education
Doctoral or professional degree
Plus internship/residency

Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.

How to get in

The full skills and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Orthopedic Surgeons page.

How to become an orthopedic surgeon

Typical entry education
Doctoral or professional degree
On-the-job training
Internship/residency

The same job in other states

Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.

Related careers in Wisconsin

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 6 majors mapped to Orthopedic Surgeons2 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 51.1201Medicine
  • 51.1202Osteopathic Medicine/Osteopathy
  • 61.0214Surgery of the Hand Fellowship Program(no graduates reported)
  • 61.1501Orthopedic Surgery Residency Program(no graduates reported)
  • 61.1504Orthopedic Surgery of the Spine Fellowship Program(no graduates reported)
  • 61.1599Orthopedic Surgery Residency/Fellowship Programs, Other(no graduates reported)

Common questions

Answers for people weighing orthopedic surgeons programs in Wisconsin.

What degree do you need to become an orthopedic surgeon?+

BLS lists a doctoral or professional degree as the typical entry-level education for orthopedic surgeons. The field of study that leads most directly to this job in Wisconsin is Medicine (IPEDS completions).

Which college majors lead to becoming an orthopedic surgeon?+

The field of study that leads most directly to this job in Wisconsin is Medicine (IPEDS completions). In all, 1 feeder program graduates about 416 people a year in Wisconsin (IPEDS completions).

How much do orthopedic surgeons earn in Wisconsin?+

The median is $572,060 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 59.5% above the U.S. median of $358,550. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.

Is demand for orthopedic surgeons growing?+

BLS projects a +4.1% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, about as fast as average, with roughly 400 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in Wisconsin?+

2 institutions in Wisconsin reported graduates from at least one of the 1 program that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.

What other job titles do orthopedic surgeons work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Surgeon, Physician, Hand Surgeon, Orthopedic Surgeon among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 29-1242.

Programs in WisconsinMedicine

About the data on this page

Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).

  • BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics

    May 2025

    Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.

  • BLS Employment Projections

    2024–34

    Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.

  • IPEDS Completions

    2024-25 (provisional)

    Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.

  • College Scorecard, Field of Study

    2020-21 cohorts

    Median graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.

  • Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes

    latest available

    Graduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.

  • NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk

    CIP 2020 / SOC 2018

    Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.

  • O*NET Database 30.3

    30.3

    Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.

    Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA

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