VA · Healthcare shortage profile
Virginia Beach City County, VA
Peak severity leads this reading: Virginia Beach City County's highest active HPSA score is 15.0, still below HRSA's 17-point high-priority line. Population 459,470.
- Active HPSAs
- 1
- Population
- 459,470
- Peak shortage score
- 15.0
- MUA Index
- 56.0
Light-burden verdict
According to current HRSA Data Warehouse records, Virginia Beach City County carries a comparatively light shortage burden - 1 active HPSA designation, more than 2% of the 3,289 real US counties, with mental health the deepest gap.
- 1
- Active HPSA designations
- 1
- Mental-health shortages
- 15
- Peak severity score (of 26)
- Top 98%
- US counties by volume
Key findings
What the HRSA Data Warehouse does not surface for Virginia Beach City County, VA 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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Closing Virginia Beach City County's active designations would take about 3.5 additional clinician FTEs, with mental health the largest gap.
HRSA providers_needed summed once per HPSA id (no double-count across status rows): 3.5 mental health. This is the federal gap estimate, not a headcount of practising clinicians.
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100% of Virginia Beach City County's 1 active designations are mental health.
Discipline mix from designated HPSA records only: 0 primary care, 1 mental health, 0 dental (denominator 1).
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Peak HPSA score 15.0 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.
Virginia Beach City County's mid-pack ZIP footprint
12 Census ZCTAs intersect Virginia Beach City County, between the 9 and 15 ZIP cuts across published counties: neither a postage-stamp footprint nor a metro-scale lattice.
Largest land-share ZCTAs
4 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
Designated volume without a high-priority score
According to current HRSA Data Warehouse records, Virginia Beach City County carries 1 active designation, above 2% 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. Virginia Beach City County falls in the lower half of VA counties by active-designation volume, at rank 120 of 133. 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: 51810. Population: 459,470.
Medically Underserved Area
Active HPSA scores
Current designated records only · mental health only on this FIPS. Scores range 0–25 (primary/mental health), 0–26 (dental). Higher = greater need. What counts as a high score?
Highest-severity HPSA designations
All 1 active (designated) HPSAs in Virginia Beach City County, ranked by HRSA shortage score.
| Name | Type | Score |
|---|---|---|
| ME - Virginia Beach Mhca | mental_health | 15.0 |
Light-burden reading for Virginia Beach City County
Peak severity leads this reading: Virginia Beach City County's highest active HPSA score is 15.0, still below HRSA's 17-point high-priority line. Virginia Beach City County's severest measured gap is in mental health, scored 15.0 of 25, still short of the 17-point priority line, though the designation itself is formal. The county also sits inside a Medically Underserved Area, indexed at 56.0, and the lower the index, the greater the measured need.
Virginia Beach City County carries 1 active designation and sits below the national mid-pack (above 2% 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.
Virginia Beach City County falls in the lower half of VA counties by active-designation volume, at rank 120 of 133. Read the active scores and the deepest-care guide link below before collapsing this county into a "no shortage" story.
Counties near Virginia Beach City County's mental score of 15.0
One peer set for this severity-led county: nearest active mental HPSA score to 15.0 (severity lead on this page is “ME - Virginia Beach MHCA”).
Frequently Asked Questions
- Does Virginia Beach City County's MUA standing sit beside its HPSA records?
- Yes - Virginia Beach City County carries an MUA designation (index 56.0; 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 Virginia Beach City County's peak score of 15.0?
- "ME - Virginia Beach MHCA" leads the active set (score 15.0; mental health; 5,776 people in the service area; ~3.5 FTE still needed on the record; designated 06/02/2023). Below 17 the shortage is formal but outside HRSA's high-priority NHSC tier. Discipline mix across 1 active rows: 0 primary care, 1 mental health, 0 dental.
- What provider types does Virginia Beach City County's severity cover?
- Active rows break down 0 primary care / 1 mental health / 0 dental. Closing published gaps would take about 3.5 additional clinician FTEs on this release.
Source: HRSA Data Warehouse. FIPS: 51810. This county’s designations come from 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 51810 (Virginia Beach City County, VA), vintage 2026-08-15. Active designation count 1; peak score 15.0; signature peak score 15.0. This profile is reference material, not professional advice; see methodology.