HRSA Counties Indexed
3
with HPSA / MUA coverage
Medically underserved areas & HPSA profile
Medically Underserved Areas in Delaware
8 Medically Underserved Areas and 37 active HRSA Health Professional Shortage Area designations across Delaware.
- MUAs
- 8
- Total HPSAs
- 37
- Primary care
- 12
- Mental health
- 13
- Dental
- 12
Lowest-density verdict
Relative to other states and territories, Delaware is in the lowest-density quarter for active designations per resident. Current HRSA Data Warehouse records show 37 designations across 3 counties; New Castle County has the largest county count at 22; about 0.0% of residents live in a geographic shortage county.
- 37
- Active HPSA designations
- 12
- Primary-care shortages
- 8
- Medically underserved areas
- 0.0%
- Residents in a shortage county
Key findings
What the HRSA Data Warehouse does not surface for Delaware 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.
-
New Castle County holds 59.5% of Delaware's 37 active designations (22 of 37).
3 of 3 counties in this profile carry at least one active record; the remainder are zero-active on this release.
-
35.1% of Delaware's active designations are mental health.
Discipline mix from state aggregates: 12 primary care, 13 mental health, 12 dental (denominator 37).
-
Closing Delaware's active designations would take about 217 additional clinician FTEs, led by primary care.
HRSA providers_needed summed once per HPSA id across the state: 98 primary care, 33 mental health, 86 dental. Federal gap estimate, not a practising-clinician headcount.
Corpus placement
Where Delaware sits among all 56 states and territories
Delaware carries 37 active HPSA designations for a population of 989,948, which is 3.7 per 100,000 residents, ranking it 48 of 56 and above 14% of states and territories, against a median of 7.3.
Every one of those designations is facility-, population- or clinic-based: Delaware has no county-wide geographic HPSA. That is why the "share of residents in a shortage county" figure on this page reads 0%: it counts only geographic designations, and a 0% there means the shortage here is designated by facility and population group rather than by whole county. It does not mean no shortage was found.
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
8
Residents in Geographic Shortage Areas
0
% Residents in Geographic Shortage
0.0%
Discipline Mix
12 / 13 / 12 PC/MH/D
Primary care · Mental health · Dental
% Residents in Geographic Shortage-Designated Counties 0.0%
Delaware 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 Delaware
3 counties with at least one active dental designation ; led by New Castle (7). Full list (designation count in parentheses): New Castle (7) , Sussex (4) , Kent (1) .
Primary-care HPSA counties in Delaware
3 counties with at least one active primary-care designation ; led by New Castle (7). Full list: New Castle (7) , Sussex (4) , Kent (1) .
Mental-health HPSA counties in Delaware
3 counties with at least one active mental-health designation ; led by New Castle (8). Full list: New Castle (8) , Sussex (4) , Kent (1) .
All counties in Delaware, by total shortage volume
All 3Delaware counties, ranked by active HPSA designations across primary care, mental health, and dental.
| # | County | Designations | Primary Care | Mental Health | Dental | MUA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Castle | 22 | 7 | 8 | 7 | MUA |
| 2 | Sussex | 12 | 4 | 4 | 4 | MUA |
| 3 | Kent | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | MUA |
Medically Underserved Areas in Delaware
Delaware carries 8 medically underserved designations covering 3 of the 3 Delaware counties on record here: 7 designated as an underserved area and 1 as an underserved population within an otherwise adequately served area. A lower Index of Medical Underservice (IMU) means greater measured need.
- 1 New Castle County 57.2
- 2 New Castle Service Area 59.8
- 3 New Castle Service Area 60.1
- 4 Sussex County 61.3
- 5 Low Income - Kent Co 75.7
- 6 Middletown Odessa Gov Mup 77.3
- 7 Claymont Edgemoor Gov Mup 85.7
- 8 New Castle 90.4
The 8 lowest-IMU designations on record for Delaware, from the HRSA shortage-designation file. IMU scores the service area, not any individual practice or hospital.
Lowest-density reading for Delaware
Relative to other states and territories, Delaware is in the lowest-density quarter (37 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 3 indexed counties on this page before treating today's low state rank as a settled access verdict. About 0.0% of residents live in a geographic shortage county.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many Medically Underserved Areas are in Delaware? ▼
Delaware has 8 Medically Underserved Areas (MUAs). About 0 residents (0.0% 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 Delaware have dental HPSA designations? ▼
3 Delaware counties carry at least one active dental Health Professional Shortage Area in the current HRSA release: New Castle (7), Sussex (4), Kent (1). 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 Delaware'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 Delaware's primary-care shortage record with every other state before drawing conclusions from a raw total; population and geography affect designation counts. Compare states
- New Castle 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 →
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 Delaware (DE) 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.