I was only out of school about 7 months when I enrolled in my residency program so I can't speak to that aspect. However, the APTA has a list of all the accredited residency programs.
My residency certainly doesn't directly make me more money. It has given me a lot of tools in regards to clinical reasoning that would have take me a few years to develop if at all. In addition, if I ever need to change jobs it certainly has improved my personal marketability. Probably the most valuable aspects to my residency program from a business perspective was an improved understanding of billing, goal setting, and efficiency that has made me a much more valuable asset than I was previously. These are things that when I connect with my former classmates they have not received.
There have been some drawbacks. Time away from family has been challenging, classes are mostly in Portland and Seattle and I live about 3.5 hours away. I have 3 little boys and it certainly has been more strain on my wife. Unlike a lot residency programs, I still work a full caseload so balancing family, work, studies, and personal well being as been extremely challenging if not impossible at times. Then there are the financial aspects, we have a mortgage, kids, and student loans and the tuition has made it impossible to pay down debt at the rate I would like, thankfully it is almost done and my company will reimburse my tuition as long as I continue working for them so come January I will begin to get some of that money back.
I would say if you are switching to a different specialty a Residency will really help with the transition and help you build some legitimacy in the area of practice. However, if you are planning on continuing in your current area of practice I would not bother. You can always just prep for and take the OCS if you are looking for personal marketability from an employment standpoint. If further clinical skills are what you are looking for then I would look into NAIOMT or other similar groups that will really help you hone those skills.
