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Anesthesiologist: what the job actually is

A physician who keeps people safe and pain-free while they are unconscious or numbed for surgery, and who watches every breath.

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Anesthesiologist: quick facts

Anesthesiologist salary in Ontario: Job Bank reports one figure for the whole group of specialists in clinical and laboratory medicine, not for anesthesiologist alone. For that group the median pay is $295,785 a year (reference period 2023-2024). The group's three-year outlook in Ontario is good. The job usually needs a university degree.

Median pay in Ontario
$295,785 a year
Pay range (low to high)
$110,998 to $599,836 a year
Job outlook, 2025-2027
Good
People working in it in Ontario
14,650
Usually needs
Usually a university degree

Source: Job Bank wages (updated 19 November 2025) and job prospects (updated 10 December 2025), NOC 31100. Pay varies by region and experience.

The work

What this job actually is

  • A medical doctor who specialises in putting patients into the state they need to be in for a procedure, then looking after their breathing, heart rate, blood pressure and pain until they wake up.
  • Most patients meet you for a few minutes before the operation and never see you during it. Your work is mostly watching, adjusting and being ready for the moment something changes.
  • It is a hospital job. Job Bank lists hospitals and offices of physicians as the main employers of this group, and says a large share of the group is self-employed.
  • Job Bank reports one pay figure and one outlook for all specialists in clinical and laboratory medicine, not for anesthesia alone. That group also holds many other specialties, so the pay on this page describes the whole group.
  • Compared with a family physician, you see far fewer patients over time and far more in a short, high-stakes window. There is no panel of patients to follow for years.

A Tuesday

What a normal day looks like

Not a good day or a bad one. The ordinary version, which is what you would actually be living.

  1. 6:45 — Arrive and check the machines, the drugs and the airway equipment for the first room. Checking is most of the job before anyone arrives.
  2. 7:15 — Meet the first patient in the pre-op area. Ask about allergies, last food and drink, and previous anesthetics, and explain what will happen in plain words.
  3. 7:45 — Into the operating room. Induce anesthesia, secure the airway and tell the surgeon the patient is ready.
  4. 8:00 — The operation starts. You watch monitors, adjust doses and write the record as it happens, and you do not leave the room.
  5. 11:00 — A change in blood pressure. You act first and explain afterwards, calmly, because the room looks to you.
  6. 12:30 — Wake the patient, hand them to recovery and give the nurse a clear report.
  7. 13:00 — Lunch, if the list allows it. Sometimes a case runs over and it does not.
  8. 14:00 — The afternoon list, with a patient who is badly frightened. Half your skill is how you speak in the first five minutes.
  9. 17:30 — Finish notes and review tomorrow's list for patients who need extra planning.
  10. 19:00 — If you are on call tonight, your phone is part of your evening.

Honestly

Who loves this, and who should not do it

The second list is the useful one. Nearly every careers page leaves it out, which is why nearly every careers page reads like an advert.

You may like this if
  • You stay calm when numbers change and the room gets tense, and you prefer a checklist to improvising.
  • You like physiology: how the body responds to drugs, blood loss and stress, and why.
  • You are comfortable with responsibility that comes in short, intense stretches, then ends when the patient wakes up.
  • You like working beside a team in one room more than building long relationships with patients.
  • You can concentrate for hours without losing the thread.
You may hate this if
  • You want to know your patients. Most meet you briefly and remember little of you, so there is little continuity and little thanks.
  • You dislike being responsible for the worst moment of someone's day. When it goes wrong, it goes wrong fast, and you are the one who acts.
  • You do not want long training. Job Bank says four to five years of specialty residency are required after medical school, and a bachelor's degree comes before that.
  • Call and early starts are a problem for you. Emergencies and urgent cases do not keep office hours.
  • You would rather work with your hands to fix something. Your work is to prevent problems, so success looks like nothing happening.
  • You dislike the debt and the delay. Years of study and training come before an independent practice certificate.

The route in

How you actually get there in Ontario

  1. Complete a university degree and get into medical school

    Job Bank says a bachelor's degree, or in Quebec a college programme plus a year of pre-medicine, is usually required before medical school, and that graduating from an approved medical school is required. Each medical school sets its own entry rules, so read them. Our family physician page lists the Ontario schools and how one of them states its requirements.

  2. Match into an anesthesiology residency

    Job Bank says specialty residency training is four to five years for this group, and that two more years of subspecialty training may also be required. We did not read the entry requirements for an anesthesiology residency, so ask a medical school or a resident how places are given out.

  3. Pass the Royal College examinations

    Job Bank says completing the certifying examinations of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada is required. The CPSO's independent practice certificate page asks for a medical degree, Parts 1 and 2 of the Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Examination, and certification by examination from the Royal College or the College of Family Physicians of Canada.

  4. Get your licence from the CPSO

    Job Bank says the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario regulates this occupation and licensing is compulsory. The CPSO page also lists Canadian citizenship or permanent resident status and says a certificate holder may only practise in the areas where they are educated and experienced.

Where this comes from: Job Bank — Specialists in clinical and laboratory medicine, requirements in Ontario · CPSO — Independent practice certificate requirements

The money

Anesthesiologist salary in Ontario

Job Bank's own figures, quoted rather than summarised, with the period they describe — so you can tell how old they are and go and check them.

$110,998
Low (a year)
$295,785
Median (a year)
$599,836
High (a year)

Ontario, NOC 31100. Reference period 2023-2024, last updated by Job Bank on 19 November 2025. Wages vary a lot by region inside Ontario and by how long you have been doing it — the low figure is roughly where you start, not what the job is worth. Job Bank reports this one by the year rather than by the hour, because the income is commission and the hours behind it are nothing like fixed.

Source: Job Bank — Anesthesiologist wages in Ontario

Where it is heading

The outlook for the next three years

Job Bank publishes a three-year outlook for every job in every province. It is the closest thing to an honest forecast, and it moves, so read it as a weather report rather than a verdict.

Ontario, 2025-2027

Good4 out of 5 stars

  • Employment growth will lead to a moderate number of new positions.
  • A moderate number of positions will become available due to retirements.
  • There are a small number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation.

What that rating means: how many openings Job Bank expects in Ontario for this kind of work against how many people are likely to be looking — not whether it is a good job. A “limited” rating means more competition for each opening; it does not close the door, and it can change before you are ready to walk through it.

What is changing in this work

  • Increased need for health-related services to support the growing and aging population in Ontario
  • Greater demand on the health care system because of the backlog of medical procedures and patient care needs
  • Major investments in health care facilities
  • Initiatives to improve home and community-based patient care services
  • Demand may be greater in rural and northern communities of Ontario

Who hires for it

  • Hospitals
  • Offices of physicians
  • Almost 60% of specialists in clinical and laboratory medicine are self-employed
14,650
people work in this job in Ontario
43%
are women (48% across all jobs)
59%
are self-employed (15% across all jobs)

Source: Job Bank — Specialists in clinical and laboratory medicine job prospects in Ontario (NOC 31100). Outlook updated by Job Bank on 10 December 2025; read by us on 5 October 2026.

Before you leave school

Things you can do now

  • Take the highest sciences and maths you can do well, and keep your marks strong. Every step on this route asks for them.
  • Do a first-aid and CPR course. It is a small, real way to find out how you behave when something goes wrong.
  • Volunteer in a hospital or care setting if your age allows. You will see how a hospital runs behind the scenes, which is where this job lives.
  • Read the admission requirements of one Ontario medical school now so you know what your university years must include.

Test it

Do this before you decide anything

Reading about a job tells you almost nothing. This is designed to be done alone, this week, for free.

Watch a checklist job and find out if it holds you

About 60 minutes
  1. Search for a recorded talk or video by a Canadian anesthesiologist explaining a normal day, and watch the whole thing. Write down the moment you were most interested and the moment you drifted.
  2. Open the Job Bank requirements page for specialists in clinical and laboratory medicine and write out the whole route from today to a licence, in order.
  3. Pick a boring checklist task at home, such as packing a bag for a trip, and do it with a written list, then check the bag against the list twice. Notice whether the double check felt reassuring or tedious.

What it tells you. If you were drawn to the watching and the checking, and the long route looked like a price you could pay, this is worth taking to a counsellor and a science teacher. If you kept wishing the patient would talk back, or the checking drained you, specialties that follow patients over time, such as family medicine or psychiatry, may fit better.

Better than any article

Questions for somebody who does this job

Most people say yes to a teenager who asks good questions. These are the ones that get real answers rather than encouragement.

  1. “What do you actually do in the five minutes before a patient goes to sleep?”
  2. “What was the hardest moment of your training, and what did it teach you?”
  3. “How do you handle being on call?”
  4. “What do people get wrong about what an anesthesiologist does?”
  5. “How did you choose anesthesia over another specialty?”
  6. “What would you tell a student about the cost and the length of the route?”

Could you own one of these?

The part other career sites never mention

Mostly not as a clinic of your own. Job Bank says a large share of specialists in this group are self-employed, which in practice means working as a physician under your own billing, but an anesthesiologist needs a hospital with an operating room. Ask a working anesthesiologist how their arrangement works.

Business 101 is free and teaches that part

Quick answers

Questions people ask about this job

How much does an anesthesiologist make in Ontario?

Job Bank reports one figure for the whole group of specialists in clinical and laboratory medicine, not for an anesthesiologist alone. For that group the median pay is $295,785 a year (reference period 2023-2024, updated 19 November 2025). The range Job Bank publishes runs from $110,998 to $599,836 a year. Pay varies by region, employer and experience.

What is the job outlook for an anesthesiologist in Ontario?

Job Bank rates the employment outlook for this work in Ontario as good for 2025-2027 (updated 10 December 2025). Employment growth will lead to a moderate number of new positions. A moderate number of positions will become available due to retirements. There are a small number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation. A lower rating means more competition for each opening, not that no one is hiring.

What do you need to become an anesthesiologist in Ontario?

Job Bank says this work usually needs a university degree. The usual route in Ontario, in order: Complete a university degree and get into medical school; Match into an anesthesiology residency; Pass the Royal College examinations.

Where does an anesthesiologist work in Ontario?

Hospitals. Offices of physicians. Almost 60% of specialists in clinical and laboratory medicine are self-employed. (Job Bank.)

How many people work as an anesthesiologist in Ontario, and how many are women?

Job Bank counts about 14,650 people working in this job in Ontario. 43% of them are women, compared with 48% across all jobs. That describes who does the work today, not who can.

Health careers in Ontario: outlook and pay What can you do with your degree?

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Wages and training requirements change. Every figure on this page is linked to the body that publishes it, and the review date above says when we last checked. If you find something out of date, tell us and we will fix it.