This study is the third of a series from the American Academy of Family Physicians to report on the percentage of each medical school's graduates who enter family practice residency programs. Approximately 12.5% of the 15,739 graduates of United States medical schools between July 1982 and June 1983 were residents in family practice in December 1983. The Mountain and Pacific regions report the highest percentage of medical school graduates who were residents in family practice programs in December 1983; the New England and Middle Atlantic regions had the lowest percentages. Medical school graduates from publicly funded medical schools were twice as likely to be residents in family practice in December 1983 as were graduates from privately funded schools. The independent variable indicated by the presence of a family practice department in the medical school is the only variable which entered into a step-wise linear regression on a transformation of the dependent variable, percentage of graduates entering an FP residency program.