Does St. Mary's County's MUA standing sit beside its HPSA records?

Yes - St. Mary's County carries an MUA designation (index 45.1; lower = greater measured need) in addition to its HPSA rows. MUA and HPSA are separate HRSA tracks; both can open different federal pathways.

Where is the largest clinician FTE gap inside St. Mary's County?

Id-de-duped providers_needed across active HPSAs totals ~16 FTE, with primary care the largest slice (8.3). "St. Mary's County" is the highest-scored active row (score 14.0; mental health; 112,006 people in the service area; ~7.5 FTE still needed on the record; designated 02/18/2026). This is HRSA's published gap, not a headcount of practising clinicians.

Which named designations drive St. Mary's County's FTE reading?

Active names on this release include "St. Mary's County" and "Saint Mary's County". Discipline counts: 1 primary care, 1 mental health, 0 dental across 2 designated rows.

Medically Underserved Area Designated · below priority line

MD · Healthcare shortage profile

St. Mary's County, MD

The clinician FTE gap is the sharpest number here: closing St. Mary's County's active designations would take about 16 additional FTEs on HRSA's providers_needed estimate. Population 113,777.

Active HPSAs: 2
Population: 113,777
Peak shortage score: 14.0
MUA Index: 45.1

MD state overview → About this data

Light-burden verdict

According to current HRSA Data Warehouse records, St. Mary's County carries a comparatively light shortage burden - 2 active HPSA designations, more than 10% of the 3,289 real US counties, with primary care the deepest gap.

2
Active HPSA designations: 1
Mental-health shortages: 14
Peak severity score (of 26): Top 90%
US counties by volume

Dense ZCTA lattice over St. Mary's County

St. Mary's County intersects 27 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

15 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.

Key findings

What the HRSA Data Warehouse does not surface for St. Mary's County, MD 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.

Closing St. Mary's County's active designations would take about 16 additional clinician FTEs, with primary care the largest gap.

HRSA providers_needed summed once per HPSA id (no double-count across status rows): 8.3 primary care, 7.5 mental health. This is the federal gap estimate, not a headcount of practising clinicians.
50% of St. Mary's County's 2 active designations are primary care.

Discipline mix from designated HPSA records only: 1 primary care, 1 mental health, 0 dental (denominator 2).
Peak HPSA score 14.0 sits below HRSA's 17-point high-priority line.

Below-17 designations still count as shortages for program geography, but they do not clear the high-priority NHSC placement threshold on this release.

Corpus placement

Designated volume without a high-priority score

According to current HRSA Data Warehouse records, St. Mary's County carries 2 active designations, above 10% of real US counties. None of those scores clear HRSA's high-priority line of 17 on this release, so the page leads with severity reading rather than a national distribution chart.

State peer position. St. Mary's County falls in the lower half of MD counties by active-designation volume, at rank 17 of 23. 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: 24037. Population: 113,777.

Medically Underserved Area

MUA Designated

MUA Index: 45.1

Active HPSA scores

Primary Care 10.0

Mental Health 14.0

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

All 2 active (designated) HPSAs in St. Mary's County, ranked by HRSA shortage score.

Name	Type	Score	Status	Pop. Served
St. Mary's County	mental_health	14.0	designated	112,006
Saint Mary's County	primary_care	10.0	designated	83,038

Light-burden reading for St. Mary's County

The clinician FTE gap is the sharpest number here: closing St. Mary's County's active designations would take about 16 additional FTEs on HRSA's providers_needed estimate. St. Mary's County's severest measured gap is in mental health, scored 14.0 of 25, still short of the 17-point priority line, though the designation itself is formal. Primary care reads 10.0 of 25. The county also sits inside a Medically Underserved Area, indexed at 45.1, and the lower the index, the greater the measured need.

St. Mary's County carries 2 active designations and sits below the national mid-pack (above 10% of counties). A light footprint still matters: a single high-score dental or mental-health record can open program geography even when the county total looks small next to heavy peers.

St. Mary's County falls in the lower half of MD counties by active-designation volume, at rank 17 of 23. Read the active scores and the deepest-care guide link below before collapsing this county into a "no shortage" story.

Light-volume FTE gap for St. Mary's County

Signature reading: HRSA providers_needed sums to about 16 FTE across St. Mary's County's active designations (once per HPSA id), a federal gap estimate, not practising headcount.

Primary care 8.3 FTE (53%) Mental health 7.5 FTE (47%)

Counties with a matching designation count to St. Mary's County's 2

One peer set for this FTE-led county: nearest active designation count to 2 - the inventory behind the ~16 FTE published need.

Hartford County, CT

2 active designations

Bell County, TX

2 active designations

Northampton County, PA

2 active designations

St. Johns County, FL

2 active designations

Frequently Asked Questions

Does St. Mary's County's MUA standing sit beside its HPSA records?: Yes - St. Mary's County carries an MUA designation (index 45.1; lower = greater measured need) in addition to its HPSA rows. MUA and HPSA are separate HRSA tracks; both can open different federal pathways.
Where is the largest clinician FTE gap inside St. Mary's County?: Id-de-duped providers_needed across active HPSAs totals ~16 FTE, with primary care the largest slice (8.3). "St. Mary's County" is the highest-scored active row (score 14.0; mental health; 112,006 people in the service area; ~7.5 FTE still needed on the record; designated 02/18/2026). This is HRSA's published gap, not a headcount of practising clinicians.
Which named designations drive St. Mary's County's FTE reading?: Active names on this release include "St. Mary's County" and "Saint Mary's County". Discipline counts: 1 primary care, 1 mental health, 0 dental across 2 designated rows.

Source: HRSA Data Warehouse. FIPS: 24037. This county’s designations come from BCD_HPSA_FCT_DET_PC.csv (primary care) and BCD_HPSA_FCT_DET_MH.csv (mental health) — 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 24037 (St. Mary's County, MD), vintage 2026-08-15. Active designation count 2; peak score 14.0; signature 16 FTE gap. This profile is reference material, not professional advice; see methodology.