AZ · Healthcare shortage profile
Pima County, AZ
Peak severity leads this reading: Pima County's highest active HPSA score is 25.0, clearing HRSA's 17-point high-priority line. Population 1,043,433.
- Active HPSAs
- 81
- Population
- 1,043,433
- Peak shortage score
- 25.0
- MUA Index
- 52.3
Heavy-burden verdict
According to current HRSA Data Warehouse records, Pima County ranks among the most underserved counties in the country - 81 active HPSA designations, more than 99% of the 3,289 real US counties, with mental health the deepest gap.
- 81
- Active HPSA designations
- 26
- Dental shortages
- 25
- Peak severity score (of 26)
- Top 1%
- US counties by volume
Key findings
What the HRSA Data Warehouse does not surface for Pima County, AZ on its own pages , computed from the retained designation mirror as of 2026-08-15. Each line carries its own denominator so it can be quoted as it stands.
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Peak HPSA score 25.0 clears HRSA's 17-point high-priority line.
Scores at or above 17 on the 0–25/26 scales open NHSC placement priority for the matching provider type; eligibility still follows the designated area, not the county boundary alone.
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Closing Pima County's active designations would take about 137 additional clinician FTEs, with primary care the largest gap.
HRSA providers_needed summed once per HPSA id (no double-count across status rows): 71 primary care, 20 mental health, 47 dental. This is the federal gap estimate, not a headcount of practising clinicians.
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34.6% of Pima County's 81 active designations are mental health.
Discipline mix from designated HPSA records only: 27 primary care, 28 mental health, 26 dental (denominator 81).
Dense ZCTA lattice over Pima County
Pima County intersects 56 Census ZCTAs, above the 15-ZIP dense-tercile cut. Shortage designations still attach at the county (or smaller HPSA) grain; the ZIP list is geography, not a second severity score.
Largest land-share ZCTAs in this county
44 additional ZCTAs intersect this county in the crosswalk (ordered by land share).
Source: Census ZCTA–county relationship file joined to this portal's county FIPS set. As of 2026-08-15.
Corpus placement
Active-designation volume placement
According to current HRSA Data Warehouse records, Pima County carries 81 active designations, above 99% of real US counties. Use the state peer line below before treating the national percentile as a local access verdict.
State peer position. Pima County sits among the top three county rank positions in AZ, at rank 2 of 15. Ties share a rank.
Computed from current designated HPSA rows for every five-digit county FIPS. See the placement methodology.
Healthcare shortage designations from HRSA. FIPS: 04019. Population: 1,043,433.
Medically Underserved Area
Peak severity scores
Current designated records only. Scores range 0–25 (primary/mental health), 0–26 (dental). Higher = greater need. What counts as a high score?
Highest-severity HPSA designations
Showing the 40 most-severe of 81 active (designated) HPSAs in Pima County, ranked by HRSA shortage score.
| Name | Type | Score |
|---|---|---|
| United Community Health Center-Maria Auxiliadora Inc | dental | 25.0 |
| El Rio Santa Cruz Neighborhood Health Center Inc. | dental | 25.0 |
| Marana Health Center, Inc | dental | 25.0 |
| Tonhc Sells Hosp | dental | 24.0 |
| Fcc - Tucson | dental | 24.0 |
| Tohono O’odham Nation | dental | 24.0 |
| San Simon Health Center | dental | 24.0 |
| United Community Health Center-Maria Auxiliadora Inc | mental_health | 23.0 |
| Mobile Health Unit | dental | 23.0 |
| El Rio Santa Cruz Neighborhood Health Center Inc. | mental_health | 22.0 |
| Pascua Yaqui Health Center | dental | 22.0 |
| Santa Rosa | dental | 22.0 |
| Tucson Indian Center | dental | 22.0 |
| San Xavier | dental | 22.0 |
| San Xavier Dental Clinic | dental | 22.0 |
| El Rio Santa Cruz Neighborhood Health Center Inc. | primary_care | 21.0 |
| Fcc - Tucson | primary_care | 21.0 |
| Tucson Indian Center | mental_health | 21.0 |
| Pascua Yaqui Health Center | mental_health | 21.0 |
| Marana Health Center, Inc | mental_health | 21.0 |
| San Xavier | mental_health | 21.0 |
| San Xavier Dental Clinic | mental_health | 21.0 |
| San Simon Health Center | primary_care | 20.0 |
| Mobile Health Unit | primary_care | 20.0 |
| Tohono O’odham Nation | primary_care | 20.0 |
| Tonhc Sells Hosp | primary_care | 20.0 |
| Tonhc Sells Hosp | mental_health | 20.0 |
| Pascua Yaqui Health Center | primary_care | 19.0 |
| San Xavier | primary_care | 19.0 |
| Tucson Indian Center | primary_care | 19.0 |
| United Community Health Center-Maria Auxiliadora Inc | primary_care | 19.0 |
| San Xavier Dental Clinic | primary_care | 19.0 |
| Santa Rosa | primary_care | 19.0 |
| San Simon Health Center | mental_health | 19.0 |
| LI-Tucson - South | dental | 19.0 |
| LI-Flowing Wells | dental | 19.0 |
| LI-Tucson - North | dental | 19.0 |
| LI-Flowing Wells | primary_care | 18.0 |
| Santa Rosa | mental_health | 18.0 |
| LI - Tucson - South | mental_health | 18.0 |
Heavy-burden reading for Pima County
Peak severity leads this reading: Pima County's highest active HPSA score is 25.0, clearing HRSA's 17-point high-priority line. Dental care carries Pima County's deepest shortage reading, 25.0 on HRSA's 0–26 dental scale, past the 17-point line HRSA uses to open National Health Service Corps placement and enhanced Medicare reimbursement. Primary care reads 21.0 of 25; Mental health reads 23.0 of 25. The county also sits inside a Medically Underserved Area, indexed at 52.3, and the lower the index, the greater the measured need.
Volume places Pima County above 99% of real US counties (81 active designations: 27 primary care, 28 mental health, 26 dental). Peak severity on the current designated set is 25.0. The table on this page lists the highest-severity records first so a reader can see which named facilities, geographies, or population groups drive that burden without treating the county total as a personal appointment forecast.
Pima County sits among the top three county rank positions in AZ, at rank 2 of 15. Heavy-burden counties are where NHSC placement, Community Health Center grant geography, and related federal instruments concentrate; eligibility still follows the designated area and provider type, not the county boundary alone.
Pima County designations by care type
Active Health Professional Shortage Area designations in the county, by provider category (high-priority disciplines emphasized).
- Mental health
Mental health
28 designations
- Primary care
Primary care
27 designations
- Dental
Dental
26 designations
Heavy-volume FTE gap in Pima County
HRSA providers_needed summed once per HPSA id for Pima County's active designations: about 137 FTE, a federal gap estimate, not a headcount of practising clinicians.
Source: HRSA Data Warehouse, Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSA) + Medically Underserved Areas/Populations (MUA/P) HPSA primary-care, mental-health, and dental designations for Pima County, AZ · 2026 HRSA designation data updated quarterly; HPSA scores 0-25 (primary/mental) and 0-26 (dental); higher = greater shortage severity. Coverage tiers from U.S. Census ACS PUMS + KFF state tracker.
Acting on a heavy-burden county
Pima County's shortage designations unlock specific federal programs and comparisons, here is how to act on them.
- Pima County's 81 active designations make providers here eligible for National Health Service Corps loan repayment, estimate the award and service terms. NHSC estimator
- See how the county's mental health burden compares with the rest of AZ before you draw conclusions from a single score. AZ overview
- Check whether an area clears HRSA's 3,500:1 population-to-provider threshold with the provider-to-population ratio behind an HPSA score. HPSA score lookup
HPSA scores describe shortage severity within HRSA's designation criteria, not the availability of any individual provider. For a specific appointment, contact a provider or your insurer; use HRSA's current tools to verify a designation.
Counties With a Similar Dental Shortage Score
Other U.S. counties whose active HRSA dental HPSA score is closest to Pima County's 25.0. This compares the designation score only, not local appointment availability or care quality. Start with Fulton County, GA and Milwaukee County, WI.
Showing 6 of 2744 counties nationally with an active designation this severe.
Counties near Pima County's dental score of 25.0
One peer set for this severity-led county: nearest active dental HPSA score to 25.0 (severity lead on this page is “UNITED COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER-MARIA AUXILIADORA INC”).
Fulton County, GA
25.0 dental score · 1,066,710 pop.
Milwaukee County, WI
25.0 dental score · 939,489 pop.
Hamilton County, OH
25.0 dental score · 830,639 pop.
Miami-Dade County, FL
25.0 dental score · 2,701,767 pop.
Tarrant County, TX
25.0 dental score · 2,110,640 pop.
Philadelphia County, PA
25.0 dental score · 1,603,797 pop.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Does Pima County's MUA standing sit beside its HPSA records?
- Yes - Pima County carries an MUA designation (index 52.3; lower = greater measured need) in addition to its HPSA rows. MUA and HPSA are separate HRSA tracks; both can open different federal pathways.
- Which record sets Pima County's peak score of 25.0?
- "UNITED COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER-MARIA AUXILIADORA INC" leads the active set (score 25.0; dental; 18,138 people in the service area; designated 08/28/2003). Clearing 17 opens NHSC high-priority placement for the matching provider type on the designated geography. Discipline mix across 81 active rows: 27 primary care, 28 mental health, 26 dental.
- Which other active designations sit under Pima County's severity reading?
- After "UNITED COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER-MARIA AUXILIADORA INC", the next active names on this release are "UNITED COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER-MARIA AUXILIADORA INC", "El Rio Santa Cruz Neighborhood Health Center Inc.", "MARANA HEALTH CENTER, INC" and "TONHC SELLS HOSP". Provider need (id-de-duped) totals ~137 FTE across disciplines that still carry a gap.
- Which federal pathways follow Pima County's high-severity geography?
- Pima County's 81 active designations can open NHSC placement, CHC grants, Medicare bonus and J-1 waivers, eligibility follows the designated area and provider type, not merely the county line around "UNITED COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER-MARIA AUXILIADORA INC".
- How does Pima County's peak severity sit inside AZ?
- Pima County holds 81 active HPSA rows with peak 25.0. Pima County sits among the top three county rank positions in AZ, at rank 2 of 15. Score-nearest national peers appear below when the peer module renders. Score-nearest counties on this release include Fulton County, GA and Milwaukee County, WI.
Source: HRSA Data Warehouse. FIPS: 04019. This county’s designations come from BCD_HPSA_FCT_DET_PC.csv (primary care) , BCD_HPSA_FCT_DET_MH.csv (mental health) and BCD_HPSA_FCT_DET_DH.csv (dental) — download the normalized export on our open data page. PlainHealthAccess is not affiliated with HRSA or any government agency.
HRSA Data Warehouse HPSA + MUA/P records for FIPS 04019 (Pima County, AZ), vintage 2026-08-15. Active designation count 81; peak score 25.0; signature peak score 25.0. This profile is reference material, not professional advice; see methodology.