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Healthcare providers in California: counts by specialty
How many healthcare providers work in California? The federal NPPES registry listed 1,160,431 active NPIs with a practice address in the state as of the June 2026 snapshot, the largest workforce among the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The single largest specialty is Behavior Technician, and Los Angeles is the city with the most records. The table below lists the 30 specialties with the most active providers and the share each one holds.
The 30 largest specialties in California
| # | Specialty (primary taxonomy) | Active NPIs | % of state |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Behavior Technician | 166,719 | 14.4% |
| 2 | Marriage & Family Therapist | 62,639 | 5.4% |
| 3 | Student in an Organized Health Care Education/Training Program | 41,336 | 3.6% |
| 4 | Clinical Social Worker | 37,134 | 3.2% |
| 5 | Pharmacist | 32,692 | 2.8% |
| 6 | Mental Health Counselor | 30,094 | 2.6% |
| 7 | Addiction (Substance Use Disorder) Counselor | 28,014 | 2.4% |
| 8 | Physical Therapist | 24,878 | 2.1% |
| 9 | General Practice Dentistry | 24,524 | 2.1% |
| 10 | Case Manager/Care Coordinator | 23,368 | 2.0% |
| 11 | Internal Medicine Physician | 21,798 | 1.9% |
| 12 | Family Medicine Physician | 21,427 | 1.8% |
| 13 | Behavior Analyst | 21,329 | 1.8% |
| 14 | Dentist | 19,419 | 1.7% |
| 15 | Family Nurse Practitioner | 17,113 | 1.5% |
| 16 | Chiropractor | 15,773 | 1.4% |
| 17 | Physician Assistant | 14,343 | 1.2% |
| 18 | Clinical Psychologist | 14,132 | 1.2% |
| 19 | Counselor | 13,979 | 1.2% |
| 20 | Acupuncturist | 13,680 | 1.2% |
| 21 | Speech-Language Pathologist | 13,650 | 1.2% |
| 22 | Rehabilitation Practitioner | 13,625 | 1.2% |
| 23 | Registered Nurse | 13,075 | 1.1% |
| 24 | Optometrist | 11,474 | 1.0% |
| 25 | Community Health Worker | 11,367 | 1.0% |
| 26 | Licensed Vocational Nurse | 10,514 | 0.9% |
| 27 | Psychiatry Physician | 10,279 | 0.9% |
| 28 | Social Worker | 10,265 | 0.9% |
| 29 | Pediatrics Physician | 10,222 | 0.9% |
| 30 | Anesthesiology Physician | 9,445 | 0.8% |
What the numbers show
Behavior Technician leads with 166,719 active records, 14.4% of everything the state has, or 2.7 times the volume of Marriage & Family Therapist, the runner up at 62,639. Student in an Organized Health Care Education/Training Program rounds out the podium with 41,336. Together, the top 5 specialties account for 29.3% of California's providers, and the 30 listed in the table cover 65.3% of the total. Overall, the state registry splits into 846 distinct taxonomies.
Geographically, active NPIs spread across 2,260 cities and towns in the state, but with heavy concentration: Los Angeles (81,959), San Diego (59,432) and San Francisco (42,234) post the largest volumes. California holds 12.6% of all active US providers registered across the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Source and method
Data: NPPES Data Dissemination file (National Plan and Provider Enumeration System), published by CMS as public domain data, snapshot of June 2026. Each provider is counted once, in the state and city of the Provider Business Practice Location, under the primary taxonomy declared in the NPI record itself. Only active NPI records are counted.
Important: an active NPI does not mean the professional is currently practicing, accepting new patients or even still working in the field; it only means the registration number remains valid. This page publishes aggregate counts only, never individual records.
Last updated: · Methodology and sources