How many medical schools in the US are there? You need two answers, one for each medical degree. The LCME (Liaison Committee on Medical Education) accredits programs leading to the MD. COCA, the American Osteopathic Association’s Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation, accredits colleges of osteopathic medicine, the DO schools.
LCME’s accredited list, last updated October 14, 2026, holds 165 MD programs: 161 in US states and Washington, DC, and four in Puerto Rico. For DO schools, pages from COCA and from AACOM (the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine) give 46 or 48 colleges, as read on October 23, 2026. Added together, that is 211 to 213 MD programs and DO colleges, a total that is our own sum of the two lists.
How Many Medical Schools in the US, Side by Side
Each figure below comes from the counting organization’s own page, with the date that page carries or the day we read it. The LCME rows are our count of the rows in its two tables.
| What is counted | Number | Source | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| MD programs on the accredited list (full, provisional and preliminary) | 165 | LCME, Accredited Programs | Last updated October 14, 2026 |
| Of those, programs in Puerto Rico | 4 | LCME, Accredited Programs | Last updated October 14, 2026 |
| MD programs in applicant or candidate status (not accredited) | 5 | LCME, Applicant and Candidate Programs | Last updated October 14, 2026 |
| Accredited colleges of osteopathic medicine in the United States | 48, at 75 teaching locations in 36 states | AACOM, U.S. Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine | Read October 23, 2026 |
| Colleges of osteopathic medicine COCA accredits | 48, at 75 sites | COCA, accreditation page | Read October 23, 2026 |
| Colleges of osteopathic medicine COCA accredits | 46, at 75 sites; the next sentence says 48 fully accredited | COCA, Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine directory | September 2026 |
| Pre-accredited colleges of osteopathic medicine | 10 | COCA, Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine directory | September 2026 |
MD Schools: What the LCME List Includes
LCME’s site says it is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and the World Federation for Medical Education “as the authority for the accreditation of medical education programs leading to the MD degree”. Its Accredited Programs list gives each program’s state, city, status and first year of accreditation. The version we read was last updated on October 14, 2026, and it has 165 rows. By status, they split like this:
- Full accreditation: 154 programs, including three listed as “Full, on probation”
- Provisional accreditation: 2 programs
- Preliminary accreditation: 9 programs, including one listed as “Preliminary, on probation”
Preliminary status matters when you build a school list. LCME’s accreditation process overview says that once it grants preliminary accreditation, “the program may begin reviewing and accepting applications for enrollment”. Six programs on the list were first accredited in 2025 or 2026, and all six are still preliminary. The three from 2026 are the University of Georgia School of Medicine, Xavier Ochsner College of Medicine and Brigham Young University School of Medicine.
Five more programs sit on LCME’s Applicant and Candidate Programs page: four applicants and one candidate. They are not accredited yet. The same overview says that before preliminary accreditation, programs “must not recruit or advertise for students” or collect applicant information. By LCME’s rule, then, none of them can take your application yet.
The accredited list covers 44 states, Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico. It lists no Canadian program: a search of the whole page for ‘Canada’ finds no match. Six states have no program on it: Alaska, Delaware, Idaho, Maine, Montana and Wyoming.
New York has the most programs, with 15. By our count of the same list, Texas and California follow with 13 each, then Florida and Illinois with 8, Pennsylvania with 7, and Michigan and Ohio with 6.
DO Schools: Two Organizations, Two Numbers
COCA’s accreditation page says COCA “is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as the accreditor of colleges of osteopathic medicine”. AACOM is the colleges’ association, not their accreditor. Its own page on accreditation says osteopathic medical schools “are accredited by the American Osteopathic Association Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (COCA)”. Both organizations publish a count, and the counts differ:
- AACOM. Its colleges page says “There are currently 48 accredited colleges of osteopathic medicine in the United States”. They teach at “75 teaching locations in 36 states”. The same page says “Nine of the colleges are public, while 39 are private institutions”.
- COCA’s accreditation page, read the same day. COCA “currently accredits 48 colleges of osteopathic medicine, operating at 75 sites”.
- COCA’s directory. The Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine directory, dated September 2026, opens by saying COCA “currently accredits 46 colleges of osteopathic medicine (COMs) operating at 75 different sites”. Its next sentence says this “includes 48 fully accredited COMs with 20 additional locations and 7 branch campuses, as well as 10 pre-accredited COMs”.
All four statements put the count between 46 and 48 colleges: three say 48, and the directory’s opening sentence says 46. The sites figure agrees across all three sources: 75 on COCA’s page, in its directory and on AACOM’s page.
The 10 pre-accredited colleges matter for a school list, as preliminary MD programs do. COCA’s standards for new and developing colleges, effective July 1, 2026, say that once a college receives pre-accreditation status, it has “the right and privilege to solicit applications and admit students”.
COCA’s directory also lists osteopathic colleges or sites in Idaho, Maine and Montana. Those are three of the six states with no MD program on LCME’s list.
Why the Counts Do Not Line Up
The numbers above count different things. Four differences sit behind them:
- Programs or colleges. LCME counts programs leading to the MD. COCA and AACOM count colleges, and one college can teach on several sites: COCA’s directory lists 20 additional locations and 7 branch campuses.
- Status. LCME’s 165 include nine programs in preliminary status. COCA’s directory mentions its 10 pre-accredited colleges in the same sentence as its 48 fully accredited ones.
- Territory. LCME’s list includes four programs in Puerto Rico; leave them out and the MD count is 161. COCA’s September 2026 directory lists no college or site in Puerto Rico; a search of the whole PDF for ‘Puerto Rico’ finds no match. COCA’s page says it “only accredits osteopathic medical education programs operating in the United States”.
- Application services. AACOMAS, the DO application, is not a count of DO schools. Its help center says that for the 2026-2027 cycle, every accredited US osteopathic program takes part except two Texas colleges, UNTHSC-TCOM and Sam Houston State. Their applicants use TMDSAS, the Texas Medical and Dental School Application Service. COCA’s directory lists a third Texas college, the University of the Incarnate Word School of Osteopathic Medicine, which is on AACOMAS by that rule.
So a count of schools on any one application service is a count of that service’s participants. It is not the number of schools in the country.
What the Count Means for Your Application
For your school list, the number that matters is not the national total. It is the set of schools whose status lets them take your application in your cycle. On the MD side, by LCME’s rules, that set includes programs in preliminary status and leaves out applicant and candidate programs. On the DO side, by COCA’s standards, it includes the pre-accredited colleges.
Both lists are revised over time: LCME’s pages show the date they were last updated, and COCA dates its directory by month. Read the LCME list and the COCA directory again on the day you finalize your schools.
If you are planning your application in advance, the Individual Applicant Advising card on ExceptionalGrad’s medical school application consulting page offers “individual advising sessions for medical applicants in order to plan their journey carefully for success upon submission”.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many accredited medical schools are in the US?
Counting both degrees, 211 to 213 by our sum, as read in October 2026. LCME’s list, updated October 14, 2026, holds 165 accredited MD programs, nine of them preliminary, a status LCME says allows accepting applications. COCA and AACOM pages give 46 to 48 accredited DO colleges; COCA’s directory also gives 10 pre-accredited ones.
How many DO schools are there in the US?
Between 46 and 48 accredited colleges of osteopathic medicine, depending on the page. AACOM says 48, nine public and 39 private, teaching at 75 locations in 36 states (read October 2026). COCA, the accreditor, says 48 at 75 sites on its web page; its September 2026 directory gives 46, then 48, plus 10 pre-accredited colleges.
How many medical schools are in Texas?
LCME’s accredited list, last updated October 14, 2026, shows 13 MD programs in Texas, the same as California and second to New York’s 15. COCA’s September 2026 directory lists three Texas colleges of osteopathic medicine; applicants to two of them, UNTHSC-TCOM and Sam Houston State, use TMDSAS instead of AACOMAS for 2026-2027.