Medically underserved areas & HPSA profile

Medically Underserved Areas in Florida

130 Medically Underserved Areas and 637 active HRSA Health Professional Shortage Area designations across Florida.

MUAs
130
Total HPSAs
637
Primary care
229
Mental health
204
Dental
204

Lowest-density verdict

Relative to other states and territories, Florida is in the lowest-density quarter for active designations per resident. Current HRSA Data Warehouse records show 637 designations across 67 counties; Miami-Dade County has the largest county count at 52; about 8.2% of residents live in a geographic shortage county.

637
Active HPSA designations
229
Primary-care shortages
130
Medically underserved areas
8.2%
Residents in a shortage county

Key findings

What the HRSA Data Warehouse does not surface for Florida 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. Miami-Dade County holds 8.2% of Florida's 637 active designations (52 of 637).

    67 of 67 counties in this profile carry at least one active record; the remainder are zero-active on this release.

  2. 35.9% of Florida's active designations are primary care.

    Discipline mix from state aggregates: 229 primary care, 204 mental health, 204 dental (denominator 637).

  3. Closing Florida's active designations would take about 1168 additional clinician FTEs, led by primary care.

    HRSA providers_needed summed once per HPSA id across the state: 483 primary care, 465 mental health, 221 dental. Federal gap estimate, not a practising-clinician headcount.

Corpus placement

Where Florida sits among all 56 states and territories

Florida carries 637 active HPSA designations for a population of 21,538,187, which is 3.0 per 100,000 residents, ranking it 52 of 56 and above 7% of states and territories, against a median of 7.3.

38 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.

Medically Underserved Areas
130
Residents in Geographic Shortage Areas
1,770,526
% Residents in Geographic Shortage
8.2%

HRSA Counties Indexed

67

with HPSA / MUA coverage

Discipline Mix

229 / 204 / 204 PC/MH/D

Primary care · Mental health · Dental

% Residents in Geographic Shortage-Designated Counties 8.2%

Florida 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 Florida

64 counties with at least one active dental designation ; led by Miami-Dade (16). Full list (designation count in parentheses): Miami-Dade (16) , Marion (10) , Lake (8) , Leon (6) , Alachua (5) , Baker (5) , Columbia (5) , Gadsden (5) , Palm Beach (5) , Polk (5) , Sumter (5) , Suwannee (5) , Taylor (5) , Bradford (4) , Citrus (4) , Franklin (4) , Hardee (4) , Hendry (4) , Jackson (4) , Levy (4) ; plus 44 more in the table below.

Primary-care HPSA counties in Florida

66 counties with at least one active primary-care designation ; led by Miami-Dade (17). Full list: Miami-Dade (17) , Marion (11) , Lake (7) , Leon (7) , Palm Beach (6) , Sumter (6) , Alachua (5) , Baker (5) , Citrus (5) , Columbia (5) , Duval (5) , Gadsden (5) , Pinellas (5) , Polk (5) , Suwannee (5) , Taylor (5) , Bradford (4) , Broward (4) , Franklin (4) , Hardee (4) ; plus 46 more in the table below.

Mental-health HPSA counties in Florida

67 counties with at least one active mental-health designation ; led by Miami-Dade (19). Full list: Miami-Dade (19) , Marion (11) , Lake (7) , Leon (7) , Columbia (6) , Gadsden (6) , Palm Beach (6) , Polk (6) , Sumter (6) , Alachua (5) , Baker (5) , Citrus (5) , Jackson (5) , Suwannee (5) , Taylor (5) , Bradford (4) , Broward (4) , Franklin (4) , Hardee (4) , Hendry (4) ; plus 47 more in the table below.

All counties in Florida, by total shortage volume

The 40 counties with the most active HPSA designations, of 67 in Florida. Columns split primary care, mental health, and dental.

# County DesignationsPrimary CareMental HealthDentalMUA
1 Miami-Dade 52 17 19 16 MUA
2 Marion 32 11 11 10 MUA
3 Lake 22 7 7 8 MUA
4 Leon 20 7 7 6 MUA
5 Palm Beach 17 6 6 5 MUA
6 Sumter 17 6 6 5 MUA
7 Columbia 16 5 6 5 MUA
8 Gadsden 16 5 6 5 MUA
9 Polk 16 5 6 5 MUA
10 Alachua 15 5 5 5 MUA
11 Baker 15 5 5 5 MUA
12 Suwannee 15 5 5 5 MUA
13 Taylor 15 5 5 5 MUA
14 Citrus 14 5 5 4 MUA
15 Jackson 13 4 5 4 MUA
16 Bradford 12 4 4 4 MUA
17 Franklin 12 4 4 4 MUA
18 Hardee 12 4 4 4 MUA
19 Hendry 12 4 4 4 MUA
20 Levy 12 4 4 4 MUA
21 Pinellas 12 5 4 3 MUA
22 Broward 11 4 4 3 MUA
23 Duval 11 5 3 3 MUA
24 Highlands 11 4 4 3 MUA
25 Hillsborough 11 4 4 3 MUA
26 Volusia 11 4 4 3 MUA
27 Orange 10 3 4 3 MUA
28 Dixie 9 3 3 3 MUA
29 Escambia 9 3 3 3 MUA
30 Hamilton 9 3 3 3 MUA
31 Lafayette 9 3 3 3 MUA
32 Madison 9 3 3 3 MUA
33 Wakulla 9 3 3 3 MUA
34 Bay 8 3 3 2 MUA
35 Brevard 8 3 3 2 MUA
36 Indian River 8 2 3 3 MUA
37 Putnam 8 3 3 2 MUA
38 Union 8 2 3 3 MUA
39 Collier 7 2 3 2 MUA
40 Santa Rosa 7 4 2 1 MUA

Medically Underserved Areas in Florida

Florida carries 130 medically underserved designations covering 67 of the 67 Florida counties on record here: 72 designated as an underserved area and 58 as an underserved population within an otherwise adequately served area. A lower Index of Medical Underservice (IMU) means greater measured need.

  1. 1 Low Inc/ M F W - Brevard County 0.0
  2. 2 Low Inc - Apopka/ Winter Garden Area 0.0
  3. 3 Low Inc - Hoffner Service Area 0.0
  4. 4 Low Inc - Alafaya Service Area 0.0
  5. 5 Panama City/ Southport Service Area 0.0
  6. 6 Low Inc - North Beach Service Area 28.4
  7. 7 Low Income - Hallandale 37.0
  8. 8 Low Inc - South Beach Service Area 37.9
  9. 9 Low Income - Sunrise 41.8
  10. 10 Low Inc/ M F W - Franklin County 43.3

The 10 lowest-IMU designations on record for Florida, from the HRSA shortage-designation file. IMU scores the service area, not any individual practice or hospital.

Lowest-density reading for Florida

Relative to other states and territories, Florida is in the lowest-density quarter (637 active designations). A low state total is not evidence that local access is adequate everywhere: facility and population-group designations can still open NHSC or FQHC geography inside individual counties.

Inspect the 67 indexed counties on this page before treating today's low state rank as a settled access verdict. About 8.2% of residents live in a geographic shortage county.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many Medically Underserved Areas are in Florida?
Florida has 130 Medically Underserved Areas (MUAs). About 1,770,526 residents (8.2% 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 Florida have dental HPSA designations?
64 Florida counties carry at least one active dental Health Professional Shortage Area in the current HRSA release: Miami-Dade (16), Marion (10), Lake (8), Leon (6), Alachua (5), Baker (5), Columbia (5), Gadsden (5), Palm Beach (5), Polk (5), Sumter (5), Suwannee (5), Taylor (5), Bradford (4), Citrus (4), Franklin (4), Hardee (4), Hendry (4), Jackson (4), Levy (4); plus 44 more on the table below. Counts are designated dental HPSA records per county, not a dentist headcount.

Source: HRSA Data Warehouse Not affiliated with HRSA

Choose the next comparison

Use Florida'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 Florida's primary-care shortage record with every other state before drawing conclusions from a raw total; population and geography affect designation counts. Compare states
  • Miami-Dade 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.

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 Florida (FL) 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.