The Numbers Don’t Lie:
A New Study Confirms What Our Members Already Know
Why Your Presence at Advocacy Day Has Never Mattered More
Kelly Golob, DC District 10 Representative, WSCA Board of Directors
There is a quiet crisis unfolding inside the chiropractic profession, and for many of our members, it is not quiet at all. It is the weight of a six-figure student loan balance sitting alongside a median income that barely keeps pace with it. It is the creeping doubt that years of sacrifice and clinical training may not pay off the way it was supposed to. It is the practitioner in their third year of practice, working long hours, genuinely helping patients, and still wondering whether they made the right career choice.
A landmark study published in April 2026 in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS One has, for the first time, put hard data behind what so many in our profession have been feeling. The study — A Survey of Student Loan Burden Among United States Chiropractors: Insights on Debt, Relief, and Educational Value — surveyed 1,455 doctors of chiropractic from 21 accredited programs across the country. The results are striking, and they demand our attention.
What the Research Found
The average chiropractic student graduates with roughly $176,000 in student loan debt. That number, already difficult to absorb, tells only part of the story. By the time survey respondents completed the questionnaire — meaning well into their careers — the average outstanding balance had grown to $232,000, with a
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median of $240,000. Interest accrual, income-driven repayment plans, and limited access to forgiveness programs all contribute to debt that doesn’t shrink; for many, it compounds.
Set that against the income picture: the median gross income reported by survey respondents for the 2023 tax year was $76,000. The average income doesn’t cross the $100,000 threshold until approximately eleven years into practice. Meanwhile, the actual cost of attending a Doctor of Chiropractic program — when tuition, fees, and living expenses are factored in — now averages over $260,000 at accredited institutions nationally. The gap between what this education costs and what it pays in the early and middle years of a career is not a rounding error. It is a structural problem. The perceptions among respondents reflected that reality. More than half — 53% — disagreed or strongly disagreed that their chiropractic education provided a positive return on investment. Nearly 70% rated the financial ROI of their training as low or very low. And perhaps most troubling: 65% of respondents said they would not choose a career in chiropractic if given the opportunity again. Of those, two-thirds said they would pursue a different healthcare field entirely.
Access to relief programs offered little buffer. Approximately 87% of respondents reported either being ineligible for loan forgiveness programs or being unsure of their eligibility — a stark contrast to other healthcare professions where Public Service
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