Top 10 in-demand specialties for locum tenens for 2026

An aging population, rising chronic disease rates, and a physician workforce that's aging out faster than training programs can replace it are combining to create an increasing demand in a handful of specialties. The Association of American Medical Colleges still projects a shortage of up to 86,000 physicians nationwide by 2036, and several specialty societies are now putting numbers on exactly where those gaps will be felt first.

For physicians, that demand translates directly into locum tenens opportunity: more open assignments, stronger negotiating power, and the freedom to choose where—and how often—you want to work. Here's a look at the 10 specialties seeing the strongest locum tenens demand in 2026.

1. Anesthesiology

Surgical volume keeps climbing as the population ages—people 65 and older are projected to grow by more than half over the next decade, and older patients need more procedures requiring sedation or general anesthesia. At the same time, more than half of practicing anesthesiologists are over 55, and workforce researchers expect close to 30% of today's anesthesiologists to leave practice by 2033. Recent projections put the resulting shortfall at as many as 10,660 anesthesiologists within the next decade, even accounting for growth in CRNA and anesthesiologist assistant staffing.

That combination—rising surgical demand and a wave of retirements—is exactly the kind of gap locum tenens is built to fill. Hospitals and surgery centers in rural and underserved markets are increasingly offering incentive pay and flexible scheduling to attract anesthesiologists willing to take short- or long-term assignments, and many anesthesiologists are using locums as a bridge into semi-retirement rather than stopping cold.

2. Cardiology

Cardiology's demand story is almost entirely demographic. The American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association, and MedAxiom project that the number of cardiovascular patients per cardiologist will jump from roughly 1-in-1,087 in 2025 to 1-in-1,700 by 2035, and nearly half of U.S. counties currently have no practicing cardiologist at all. Wait times for a routine cardiology visit have grown by more than a quarter since 2017, and with more than a quarter of today's cardiologists over 60, the field is losing hundreds of practitioners a year to retirement faster than fellowship programs can replace them.

For cardiologists, that shortage cuts both ways: it's a serious access problem for patients, but it also means locum tenens cardiologists have their pick of assignments—especially in the Midwest and rural West, where per-capita cardiologist density is lowest. Whether you're early in your career and want to see different practice settings, or later in your career and looking to dial back without fully retiring, the demand is there to support it.

3. OB-GYN

More than a third of U.S. counties are now considered "maternity care deserts," places without a hospital, birth center, or obstetric provider offering maternity care, and ACOG projects a shortage of thousands of OB-GYNs nationally, with the gap widening toward mid-century.

Rural hospitals and health systems in maternity care deserts are actively recruiting locum tenens OB-GYNs to keep labor and delivery units open, and many physicians find the flexibility lets them serve those communities intensively for a few weeks at a time rather than relocating permanently.

4. Family medicine

Family medicine's 2026 Match numbers tell a stark story: the fill rate dropped to 83.6%, the lowest since 2006, leaving nearly 900 positions unfilled and prompting the National Resident Matching Program to convene a panel specifically to study the decline. Meanwhile, HRSA projects a national shortage of more than 70,000 primary care physicians by 2038, and 92 million Americans already live in a federally designated primary care shortage area.

Family physicians are the backbone of care in small and rural communities, where they often perform a much larger share of patient visits than in urban settings. Locum tenens gives family medicine physicians a way to go directly where that need is greatest—and gives physicians early in their careers a low-commitment way to sample different communities and practice settings before settling into a permanent role.

5. Internal medicine

Internal medicine added 280 residency positions in the 2026 Match, bringing the total to 11,632—but the fill rate slipped nearly 2 points to 95.2%, another sign that primary care training isn't quite keeping pace with the positions being created. As part of the broader primary care shortage, internal medicine physicians are feeling growing pressure from an aging population that needs more chronic disease management than ever.

That steady, reliable demand is good news for internists considering locum tenens: assignments are consistent enough that many physicians build a full-time career entirely around locums work, moving between hospitalist-style coverage and outpatient internal medicine assignments as they choose.

6. Medical oncology

Cancer care access is becoming a geography problem as much as a workforce problem. A 2025 ASCO workforce report found that 68% of Americans age 55 and older live in counties where oncologist coverage is at risk, and the density of oncologists relative to the aging population has been shrinking for a decade, down from roughly 16 oncologists per 100,000 older adults in 2014 to under 15 in 2024. With more than 2 million new cancer diagnoses expected in 2026 and cancer incidence projected to keep climbing as the population ages, that gap is likely to widen before it narrows.

Rural "cancer care deserts" are especially acute—ASCO estimates roughly 1 in 10 older Americans in rural areas have no practicing oncologist nearby. Locum tenens oncologists can help close that gap directly, and many find the arrangement lets them spend more time on patient care and less on the administrative load that comes with a permanent staff position.

7. Emergency medicine

Emergency medicine added 130 residency positions in the 2026 Match, but applicant interest hasn't grown at the same pace, and the fill rate slipped more than two points to 95.6%. Meanwhile, ED overcrowding and patient boarding—where admitted patients wait in the emergency department for an inpatient bed, sometimes for days—has become one of the specialty's defining pressures, and the American College of Emergency Physicians has flagged it as a leading driver of physician burnout nationally.

That combination of high patient volume and administrative strain is pushing more emergency physicians toward locum tenens to reclaim control over their schedules. Rural and critical access EDs, in particular, often offer strong incentive pay for locums coverage, since they struggle the most to keep permanent emergency medicine staff.

8. Radiology

Imaging demand continues to outpace the radiology workforce. Research from the Neiman Health Policy Institute projects imaging utilization will climb another 17% to 27% by 2055 as the population ages and screening volumes grow. With only about 1,400 funded radiology residency positions added each year and roughly a third of the current radiology workforce over age 55, supply isn't expected to catch up anytime soon.

For radiologists, that shortage is translating into strong demand across nearly every market, and teleradiology has made it easier than ever to take locum tenens assignments without relocating. Facilities facing imaging backlogs are increasingly turning to locum tenens radiologists to keep read times manageable and avoid temporarily closing outpatient imaging centers.

9. Gastroenterology

Updated colorectal cancer screening guidelines—which lowered the recommended starting age from 50 to 45—added roughly 19 million people to the screening pool almost overnight, right as the gastroenterology workforce is aging out. Nealy half of practicing GIs are 55 or older, but only about 600 new gastroenterologists are certified each year, while roughly 1,000 retire or scale back, resulting in a net loss of around 400 physicians annually. The result: a projected shortage of more than 500 full-time-equivalent gastroenterologists in 2026, with two-thirds of U.S. counties having no practicing gastroenterologist at all.

Open GI positions now take a median of more than six months to fill, which is exactly the kind of gap locum tenens is designed to close. Gastroenterologists taking locums assignments often find they can concentrate on procedures and patient care while avoiding the administrative overhead of practice ownership.

10. Neurology

Neurology is new to this year's list, and for good reason: it saw the largest jump in matched applicants of any top specialty in the 2026 Match—up 8% year over year—a sign that more physicians recognize where demand is headed. An aging population means more strokes, more Parkinson's disease, and more dementia: the Alzheimer's Association projects roughly 16 million Americans will be living with Alzheimer's disease by 2050, up from about 5.4 million today, and stroke incidence is expected to climb as well. Some workforce estimates put the current neurologist shortfall at 18,000 nationwide.

The effects are already visible in rural areas, where research shows patients travel an average of 81 miles one-way just to see a neurologist. Locum tenens and teleneurology are both playing a growing role in closing that gap, giving neurologists a way to reach underserved communities without relocating permanently—and giving physicians who want to try a new region or setting a lower-commitment way to do it.

To learn more about locum tenens opportunities in your specialty, give us a call at 800.453.3030 or view all locum tenens job opportunities.