Medically underserved areas & HPSA profile

Medically Underserved Areas in Indiana

88 Medically Underserved Areas and 366 active HRSA Health Professional Shortage Area designations across Indiana.

MUAs
88
Total HPSAs
366
Primary care
139
Mental health
101
Dental
126

Lower-middle density verdict

Indiana sits in the lower-middle quarter by active designations per resident. According to current HRSA Data Warehouse records, its 92 counties carry 366 active shortage designations; Marion County has the largest county count at 37, while about 63.7% of residents live in a geographic shortage county.

366
Active HPSA designations
139
Primary-care shortages
88
Medically underserved areas
63.7%
Residents in a shortage county

Key findings

What the HRSA Data Warehouse does not surface for Indiana 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.

  1. Closing Indiana's active designations would take about 653 additional clinician FTEs, led by primary care.

    HRSA providers_needed summed once per HPSA id across the state: 298 primary care, 171 mental health, 184 dental. Federal gap estimate, not a practising-clinician headcount.

  2. 38% of Indiana's active designations are primary care.

    Discipline mix from state aggregates: 139 primary care, 101 mental health, 126 dental (denominator 366).

  3. Marion County holds 10.1% of Indiana's 366 active designations (37 of 366).

    92 of 92 counties in this profile carry at least one active record; the remainder are zero-active on this release.

HRSA state registry desk

Indiana designation file stamps

HPSA-VOL
366
MUA-COUNT
88
PC/MH/DH
139/101/126
RANK
37/56
DENSITY
MID-LOW
BOOK
92 counties

Lead discipline: primary-care. Photo-finish peer: West Virginia (361HPSAs).

Corpus placement

Where Indiana sits among all 56 states and territories

At 5.4 designations per 100,000 residents, built from 366 active HPSA records over 6,785,528 people, Indiana lands at rank 37 of 56, trailing the 7.3 median but still ahead of 34% of the field.

49 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
88
Residents in Geographic Shortage Areas
4,321,570
% Residents in Geographic Shortage
63.7%

HRSA Counties Indexed

92

with HPSA / MUA coverage

Discipline Mix

139 / 101 / 126 PC/MH/D

Primary care · Mental health · Dental

% Residents in Geographic Shortage-Designated Counties 63.7%

Indiana Shortage Designations by Care Type

How Indiana's 366 active HRSA designations split across the three provider categories. According to KFF's May 2026 tracker, Indiana has adopted ACA Medicaid expansion. That policy context does not measure provider supply, appointment availability, or care quality.

Indiana HPSA designations by type

Active Health Professional Shortage Area designations, by provider category.

designations
Source HRSA Data Warehouse, designated HPSAs As of 2026

Indiana 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 Indiana

63 counties with at least one active dental designation ; led by Marion (10). Full list (designation count in parentheses): Marion (10) , Adams (5) , Gibson (5) , Lake (4) , Tippecanoe (4) , Vigo (4) , Delaware (3) , Elkhart (3) , Knox (3) , La Porte (3) , Madison (3) , Porter (3) , Randolph (3) , Allen (2) , Cass (2) , Clark (2) , Clay (2) , Greene (2) , Hendricks (2) , Henry (2) ; plus 43 more in the table below.

Primary-care HPSA counties in Indiana

69 counties with at least one active primary-care designation ; led by Marion (16). Full list: Marion (16) , Lake (6) , Adams (5) , Gibson (5) , Allen (4) , Tippecanoe (4) , Vigo (4) , Delaware (3) , Elkhart (3) , Knox (3) , La Porte (3) , Madison (3) , Porter (3) , Randolph (3) , Cass (2) , Clark (2) , Clay (2) , Hendricks (2) , Henry (2) , Jefferson (2) ; plus 49 more in the table below.

Mental-health HPSA counties in Indiana

92 counties with at least one active mental-health designation ; led by Marion (11). Full list: Marion (11) , Gibson (6) , Lake (6) , Adams (5) , Porter (4) , Tippecanoe (4) , Vigo (4) , Allen (3) , Clark (3) , Delaware (3) , Elkhart (3) , Hendricks (3) , Johnson (3) , Knox (3) , La Porte (3) , Madison (3) , Randolph (3) , Cass (2) , Clay (2) , Decatur (2) ; plus 72 more in the table below.

All counties in Indiana, by total shortage volume

The 40 counties with the most active HPSA designations, of 92 in Indiana. Columns split primary care, mental health, and dental. On a narrow screen, this list keeps each county’s total and MUA status visible; the care-type split is available on wider screens.

#CountyDesignationsMUA
1Marion37MUA
2Gibson16MUA
3Lake16MUA
4Adams15MUA
5Tippecanoe12MUA
6Vigo12MUA
7Porter10MUA
8Allen9MUA
9Delaware9MUA
10Elkhart9MUA
11Knox9MUA
12La Porte9MUA
13Madison9-
14Randolph9MUA
15Clark7MUA
16Hendricks7-
17Johnson7MUA
18Cass6MUA
19Clay6MUA
20Henry6MUA
21Jefferson6MUA
22Miami6MUA
23Monroe6MUA
24Montgomery6MUA
25Orange6MUA
26Parke6MUA
27Perry6MUA
28Starke6MUA
29Sullivan6-
30Vanderburgh6MUA
31Vermillion6MUA
32Wayne6MUA
33Greene5MUA
34Kosciusko5MUA
35Pike5MUA
36Putnam5-
37Decatur4MUA
38Hamilton4-
39Blackford3MUA
40Clinton3-

Medically Underserved Areas in Indiana

Showing 30 of 88 MUA designations (lowest MUA Index first, i.e. most underserved).

Name MUA Index
Low Inc - Jackson County 0.0
Low Inc - Forest Manor Service Area 0.0
Low Inc - Mishawaka 0.0
Low Income - Porter 0.0
Low Inc - Grassy Creek Service Area 0.0
Low Inc - North Arlington Service Area 0.0
Waterloo Service Area 0.0
Low Inc - Goshen Service Area 0.0
Low Inc - Elkhart Service Area 0.0
City of Gary Service Area 46.4
Oakland City Service Area 46.5
Tippecanoe Service Area 47.0
Central Hammond Service Area 51.0
City of East Chicago Service Area 51.4
Marion Service Area 51.8
Switzerland Service Area 52.3
Salamonie Service Area 52.9
Owen Service Area 52.9
Marion Service Area 53.4
Starke Service Area 53.4
Daviess Service Area 54.0
Smyrna Service Area 54.6
Brown Service Area 54.8
Pike Service Area 54.9
Ohio Service Area 55.2
Marion Service Area 55.7
Clay Service Area 55.7
LI-Henry County 56.1
LI-Blackford County 56.5
Low Income - Knox County 56.6

Lower-middle density reading for Indiana

Indiana sits below the national mid-pack by designations per resident with 366 active records across 92 counties. A moderate footprint still matters: a single high-score dental or mental-health record can open program geography even when the state total looks small next to denser peers.

About 63.7% of residents live in a geographic shortage county. Use the county ranking below to see which localities drive that share.

Nationwide states with similar HRSA shortage footprints

Two peer sets for Indiana: total active HPSA designations and Medically Underserved Area counts, ranked against every other state and territory.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many Medically Underserved Areas are in Indiana? ▼
Indiana has 88 Medically Underserved Areas (MUAs). About 4,321,570 residents (63.7% 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 Indiana have dental HPSA designations? ▼
63 Indiana counties carry at least one active dental Health Professional Shortage Area in the current HRSA release: Marion (10), Adams (5), Gibson (5), Lake (4), Tippecanoe (4), Vigo (4), Delaware (3), Elkhart (3), Knox (3), La Porte (3), Madison (3), Porter (3), Randolph (3), Allen (2), Cass (2), Clark (2), Clay (2), Greene (2), Hendricks (2), Henry (2); plus 43 more on the table below. Counts are designated dental HPSA records per county, not a dentist headcount.
Are there doctor shortages in Indiana? ▼
Yes. Indiana has 366 Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs), including 139 in primary care, 101 in mental health, and 126 in dental care. About 63.7% of Indiana 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.

Source: HRSA Data Warehouse Not affiliated with HRSA

Choose the next comparison

Use Indiana'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 Indiana's primary-care shortage record with every other state before drawing conclusions from a raw total; population and geography affect designation counts. Compare states
  • Marion 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 Indiana (IN) 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.