Medically underserved areas & HPSA profile

Medically Underserved Areas in Alaska

30 Medically Underserved Areas and 988 active HRSA Health Professional Shortage Area designations across Alaska.

MUAs
30
Total HPSAs
988
Primary care
330
Mental health
330
Dental
328

Highest-density verdict

Current HRSA Data Warehouse records put Alaska in the highest-density quarter of states and territories. It carries 988 active shortage designations across 31 counties; Bethel County has the largest county count at 131. About 60.3% of residents live in a geographic shortage county.

988
Active HPSA designations
330
Primary-care shortages
30
Medically underserved areas
60.3%
Residents in a shortage county

Key findings

What the HRSA Data Warehouse does not surface for Alaska on its own pages , computed from the retained designation mirror as of 2026-08-03. Each line carries its own denominator so it can be quoted as it stands.

  1. Bethel County holds 13.3% of Alaska's 988 active designations (131 of 988).

    31 of 31 counties in this profile carry at least one active record; the remainder are zero-active on this release.

  2. 33.4% of Alaska's active designations are primary care.

    Discipline mix from state aggregates: 330 primary care, 330 mental health, 328 dental (denominator 988).

  3. Closing Alaska's active designations would take about 125 additional clinician FTEs, led by primary care.

    HRSA providers_needed summed once per HPSA id across the state: 52 primary care, 25 mental health, 48 dental. Federal gap estimate, not a practising-clinician headcount.

Corpus placement

Where Alaska sits among all 56 states and territories

Alaska carries 988 active HPSA designations for a population of 733,391, which is 134.7 per 100,000 residents, ranking it 1 of 56 and above 98% of states and territories, against a median of 7.3.

35 of those are county-wide geographic designations; the remainder are facility-, population- or clinic-based, which is why the county map and the designation count answer different questions.

Designation density tracks rural geography as much as unmet need: AK records 134.7 designations per 100,000 residents and NJ 1.5, because a sparsely-settled state accumulates more separate designations to cover the same population. Designations also overlap, so this counts designations, not people. Counted as distinct HRSA designation IDs, the same unit as the totals above. Computed from the designation records and county populations behind this page; states without county population data are given no placement rather than an estimated one.

Snapshot comparison

Change since the previous HRSA snapshot

Between Jun 2, 2026 and Jul 25, 2026, the number of active stable HPSA IDs recorded for Alaska changed from 975 to 988 (+13).

IDs added
25
IDs absent now
0
Newly designated
2
No longer designated
14

Among IDs present in both snapshots, scores rose for 19 and fell for 6; recorded providers needed rose for 1 and fell for 3. These are changes in published designation records, not evidence of cause, care quality, or patient outcomes. See the national comparison and limitations.

Medically Underserved Areas
30
Residents in Geographic Shortage Areas
442,144
% Residents in Geographic Shortage
60.3%

HRSA Counties Indexed

31

with HPSA / MUA coverage

Discipline Mix

330 / 330 / 328 PC/MH/D

Primary care · Mental health · Dental

% Residents in Geographic Shortage-Designated Counties 60.3%

Alaska Shortage Designations by Care Type

How Alaska's 988 active HRSA designations split across the three provider categories. According to KFF's May 2026 tracker, Alaska has adopted ACA Medicaid expansion. That policy context does not measure provider supply, appointment availability, or care quality.

Alaska HPSA designations by type

Active Health Professional Shortage Area designations, by provider category.

designations
Source HRSA Data Warehouse, designated HPSAs As of 2026

Alaska HPSA Counties by Care Type

County lists for the three HRSA shortage disciplines searchers ask for by name (dental, primary care, mental health). Counts are live designated-HPSA records in this release, not provider headcounts.

Dental HPSA counties in Alaska

31 counties with at least one active dental designation ; led by Bethel (43). Full list (designation count in parentheses): Bethel (43) , Yukon-Koyukuk (36) , Anchorage (19) , Nome (18) , Dillingham (17) , Kenai Peninsula (16) , Kusilvak (16) , Lake and Peninsula (15) , Northwest Arctic (15) , Prince of Wales-Hyder (15) , Copper River (11) , Kodiak Island (10) , Matanuska-Susitna (10) , Juneau (9) , Aleutians West (8) , North Slope (8) , Southeast Fairbanks (8) , Aleutians East (7) , Fairbanks North Star (7) , Hoonah-Angoon (7) ; plus 11 more in the table below.

Primary-care HPSA counties in Alaska

31 counties with at least one active primary-care designation ; led by Bethel (44). Full list: Bethel (44) , Yukon-Koyukuk (35) , Anchorage (20) , Nome (18) , Kenai Peninsula (17) , Dillingham (16) , Kusilvak (16) , Northwest Arctic (15) , Prince of Wales-Hyder (15) , Lake and Peninsula (14) , Copper River (11) , Matanuska-Susitna (10) , Juneau (9) , Kodiak Island (9) , North Slope (9) , Aleutians West (8) , Southeast Fairbanks (8) , Aleutians East (7) , Fairbanks North Star (7) , Hoonah-Angoon (7) ; plus 11 more in the table below.

Mental-health HPSA counties in Alaska

31 counties with at least one active mental-health designation ; led by Bethel (44). Full list: Bethel (44) , Yukon-Koyukuk (36) , Anchorage (20) , Nome (19) , Dillingham (17) , Kenai Peninsula (17) , Kusilvak (16) , Northwest Arctic (16) , Lake and Peninsula (15) , Prince of Wales-Hyder (15) , Copper River (11) , Kodiak Island (10) , Matanuska-Susitna (10) , Juneau (9) , North Slope (9) , Aleutians West (8) , Southeast Fairbanks (8) , Aleutians East (7) , Fairbanks North Star (7) , Hoonah-Angoon (7) ; plus 11 more in the table below.

All counties in Alaska, by total shortage volume

All 31Alaska counties, ranked by active HPSA designations across primary care, mental health, and dental.

# County DesignationsPrimary CareMental HealthDentalMUA
1 Bethel 131 44 44 43 MUA
2 Yukon-Koyukuk 107 35 36 36 MUA
3 Anchorage 59 20 20 19 MUA
4 Nome 55 18 19 18 MUA
5 Dillingham 50 16 17 17 MUA
6 Kenai Peninsula 50 17 17 16 MUA
7 Kusilvak 48 16 16 16 -
8 Northwest Arctic 46 15 16 15 MUA
9 Prince of Wales-Hyder 45 15 15 15 -
10 Lake and Peninsula 44 14 15 15 MUA
11 Copper River 33 11 11 11 -
12 Matanuska-Susitna 30 10 10 10 MUA
13 Kodiak Island 29 9 10 10 MUA
14 Juneau 27 9 9 9 MUA
15 North Slope 26 9 9 8 MUA
16 Aleutians West 24 8 8 8 MUA
17 Southeast Fairbanks 24 8 8 8 MUA
18 Aleutians East 21 7 7 7 MUA
19 Fairbanks North Star 21 7 7 7 MUA
20 Hoonah-Angoon 21 7 7 7 MUA
21 Bristol Bay 18 6 6 6 MUA
22 Chugach 18 6 6 6 -
23 Haines 15 5 5 5 MUA
24 Ketchikan Gateway 12 4 4 4 MUA
25 Sitka 12 4 4 4 -
26 Wrangell City and Borough 12 4 4 4 MUA
27 Denali 9 3 3 3 MUA
28 Petersburg 9 3 3 3 -
29 Yakutat 9 3 3 3 MUA
30 Skagway 6 2 2 2 -
31 Valdez-Cordova 3 1 1 1 -

Medically Underserved Areas in Alaska

All 30 MUA designations in Alaska, lowest MUA Index first.

Name MUA Index
Low Inc - Wrangell 0.0
Low Inc - Cordova Service Area 0.0
Low Inc - Denali Borough 0.0
Low Inc - Kodiak Island Borough 0.0
Low Inc - Copper River Census Sub Area 0.0
Low Inc - Southeast Fairbanks Census 0.0
Low Inc - Dillingham Census Area 0.0
Fairbanks North Star Borough 0.0
Mantanuska-sustina 0.0
Haines 0.0
Exceptional Needs - Kenai Peninsula Service Area 0.0
Wade Hampton Census Area 32.5
Northwest Arctic 37.2
Nome Census Area 37.2
Mcgrath-holy Cross Service Area 47.7
Lower Kukokwim 47.7
Bethel Census Area 47.7
City Of Whittier 50.0
Yukon Flats Service Area 57.0
Prudhoe Bay-kaktovik Service Area 57.0
Lake And Peninsula Borough Service Area 58.0
Koyukuk-middle Yokon 59.9
Skagway-Hoonah-Angoon Service Area 59.9
Bristol Bay 60.3
Prince of Wales-Outer Ketchikan Area 60.4
Yakutat 60.8
Aleutians East 61.1
Aleutians West Service Area 61.7
Anchorage 61.7
Homeless - Juneau 63.0

High-density reading for Alaska

At 988 active designations (330 primary care / 330 mental health / 328 dental), Alaska sits in the top quarter of the state and territory corpus by designations per resident. That volume is where NHSC placements, FQHC operating geography, and related federal instruments concentrate; eligibility still follows the designated area and provider type, not the state boundary alone.

Bethel County leads the in-state table with 131 active records; open that county profile before treating the state total as evenly spread. About 60.3% of residents live in a geographic shortage county; facility and population-group designations cover additional residents counted separately.

Learn More About Healthcare Shortages

What counts as a high HPSA score

National score distribution by discipline: where a bare score sits among primary-care, dental, and mental-health designations.

Reading Healthcare Shortage Designations

How to compare HRSA shortage records by state without treating them as personal care outcomes.

Explore more Alaska shortage data

Dig deeper into the federal shortage designations behind Alaska's numbers.

Primary-care shortages

Where the provider gap is deepest nationwide

Mental-health shortages

Counties and states with the widest mental-health gaps

National rankings

See where Alaska ranks among all states

Coverage tools

Estimate HPSA scores and provider gaps

Frequently Asked Questions

How many Medically Underserved Areas are in Alaska? ▼
Alaska has 30 Medically Underserved Areas (MUAs). About 442,144 residents (60.3% of the state) live in a county with a geographic HRSA shortage designation. MUA-designated areas qualify for enhanced federal funding and Community Health Center grants.
Which counties in Alaska have dental HPSA designations? ▼
31 Alaska counties carry at least one active dental Health Professional Shortage Area in the current HRSA release: Bethel (43), Yukon-Koyukuk (36), Anchorage (19), Nome (18), Dillingham (17), Kenai Peninsula (16), Kusilvak (16), Lake and Peninsula (15), Northwest Arctic (15), Prince of Wales-Hyder (15), Copper River (11), Kodiak Island (10), Matanuska-Susitna (10), Juneau (9), Aleutians West (8), North Slope (8), Southeast Fairbanks (8), Aleutians East (7), Fairbanks North Star (7), Hoonah-Angoon (7); plus 11 more on the table below. Counts are designated dental HPSA records per county, not a dentist headcount.
Are there doctor shortages in Alaska? ▼
Yes. Alaska has 988 Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs), including 330 in primary care, 330 in mental health, and 328 in dental care. About 60.3% of Alaska residents live in a county that HRSA has designated as a geographic (whole-community) shortage area; additional residents are covered by population-group and facility designations counted separately.
What are HPSAs? ▼
Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) are federal designations by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) identifying communities with insufficient healthcare providers. HPSAs are categorized into three types: primary care, mental health, and dental. In Alaska, there are 988 designated HPSAs and 30 Medically Underserved Areas (MUAs).
What federal programs address healthcare shortages in Alaska? ▼
HRSA shortage designations in Alaska unlock eligibility for over 30 federal programs, including National Health Service Corps (NHSC) loan repayment and scholarships, Community Health Center (FQHC) funding, Medicare bonus payments (10% for physicians in HPSAs), J-1 visa waiver programs for international medical graduates, and Rural Health Clinic certification. These programs direct billions of dollars annually toward underserved communities.
How does Alaska compare to other states in HRSA shortage designations? ▼
Alaska has 988 total HPSA designations and 30 Medically Underserved Areas. With 60.3% of residents in counties carrying a geographic shortage designation, you can compare the recorded HRSA designations and scores with other states on our national rankings pages for primary care, mental health, and dental care.
How often is Alaska HPSA data updated? ▼
HRSA publishes HPSA designation changes through the Data Warehouse on a rolling basis. This page reports the portal's stated HRSA source vintage after a verified refresh; use HRSA's official tools when a current designation status matters.

Source: HRSA Data Warehouse Not affiliated with HRSA

Choose the next comparison

Use Alaska's designation totals as a starting point, then move to the comparison that answers the next decision without treating a shortage designation as a personal care outcome.

  • Compare Alaska's primary-care shortage record with every other state before drawing conclusions from a raw total; population and geography affect designation counts. Compare states
  • Bethel County has the most active HPSA designations in this state profile. Open its county record to inspect the local primary-care, mental-health, and dental breakdown. Open county profile
  • Use the national statistics reference for the source vintage, aggregate context, and methodology behind these state-level figures. Read national context

HRSA designations describe structural provider-shortage criteria and federal-program eligibility. They do not measure appointment availability, insurance coverage, care quality, or an individual patient’s access to care.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Verify with U.S. Census Bureau →

Verify with CMS →

Every figure on PlainHealthAccess is rendered directly from HRSA source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page aggregates every county-level HPSA and MUA designation on record for Alaska (AK) and ranks the state's per-capita designation density among all states and territories. Designations describe federal shortage criteria, not appointment availability or care quality for any person. 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 2026.