National shortage rankings

Healthcare Shortage Rankings

According to the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Data Warehouse, 21,148 active Health Professional Shortage Area designations were in force nationwide as of August 2026. This reference ranks U.S. states and counties across primary care, mental health, and dental care, helping readers compare recorded shortage burden rather than infer the quality of any clinician or facility.

Most designations
California
1,623 active HPSAs
Average per state
378
across 56 states & territories
Concentration
4.3×
California vs the state average

States with the most HPSA designations

Total active Health Professional Shortage Area designations, top 10 states and territories.

designations
Source HRSA Data Warehouse, designated HPSAs As of 2026

State Rankings

Most Total HPSAs

Full list →
# State Total HPSAs
1 California 1,623
2 Texas 1,119
3 Alaska 988
4 Missouri 925
5 Michigan 793
6 Illinois 731
7 Kentucky 701
8 Arizona 649
9 Washington 640
10 Florida 637

Most primary-care designations

Full list →
# State Designations
1 California 559
2 Texas 394
3 Missouri 340
4 Alaska 330
5 Illinois 296
6 Michigan 274
7 Kentucky 245
8 Florida 229
9 Arizona 227
10 Washington 219

Most mental-health designations

Full list →
# State Designations
1 California 518
2 Texas 387
3 Alaska 330
4 Missouri 259
5 Michigan 257
6 Washington 217
7 Arizona 212
8 Kentucky 210
9 North Carolina 207
10 Florida 204

Most dental designations

Full list →
# State Designations
1 California 546
2 Texas 338
3 Alaska 328
4 Missouri 326
5 Michigan 262
6 Illinois 250
7 Kentucky 246
8 Arizona 210
9 Florida 204
10 Washington 204

County Rankings

Counties - Highest primary-care HPSA scores

View top 100 →
# County HPSA score
1 Mili MH 25.0
2 Bikar MH 25.0
3 Erikub MH 25.0
4 Arno MH 25.0
5 Rongrik MH 25.0
6 Bikini MH 25.0
7 Jemo MH 25.0
8 Ailinglaplap MH 25.0
9 Ujae MH 25.0
10 Ebon MH 25.0

Counties - Highest mental-health HPSA scores

View top 100 →
# County HPSA score
1 Clermont OH 25.0
2 Cumberland KY 25.0
3 Leon FL 25.0
4 Milwaukee WI 24.0
5 Kenosha WI 24.0
6 McDowell WV 24.0
7 Not Determined MH 24.0
8 Darlington SC 24.0
9 Charleston SC 24.0
10 Lexington SC 24.0

Counties - Highest dental HPSA scores

View top 100 →
# County HPSA score
1 McDowell WV 26.0
2 Berkeley WV 26.0
3 Moca PR 26.0
4 San Sebastian PR 26.0
5 Utuado PR 26.0
6 Loiza PR 26.0
7 Adjuntas PR 26.0
8 Mayaguez PR 26.0
9 Jayuya PR 26.0
10 Guayanilla PR 26.0

Counties - Lowest MUA Index scores

View top 100 →
# County MUA Index
1 San Juan PR 0.0
2 Bayamon PR 0.0
3 Bay FL 0.0
4 Carolina PR 0.0
5 Ponce PR 0.0
6 Caguas PR 0.0
7 Moore NC 0.0
8 Arecibo PR 0.0
9 Clearfield PA 0.0
10 Toa Baja PR 0.0

What to do with these rankings

California carries 4.3x the average state's designation count, a rank alone does not tell you why.

  • Drill into California's own designations to see which shortage type (primary care, mental health, or dental) is driving its rank. California overview
  • A state or county's designation COUNT reflects both severity and population size, check the per-capita shortage rate before assuming the top-ranked area has the worst individual access. How rankings are built
  • See whether a specific county clears HRSA's population-to-provider threshold behind its own HPSA score. HPSA score lookup

Rankings reflect ACTIVE designations only; withdrawn or expired HPSAs are excluded. HRSA reviews designations quarterly, so relative order can shift between refreshes.

Source: HRSA Data Warehouse PlainHealthAccess is not affiliated with HRSA or any government agency

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Every figure on PlainHealthAccess is rendered directly from HRSA source data, no number is typed in by an editor. These rankings count ACTIVE HRSA designations only; withdrawn or expired HPSAs are excluded, and relative order can shift when HRSA refreshes the warehouse. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, review the public data changelog, or report a data issue for this page. Data current as of August 2026.