As of 2022, the number of licensed physicians in the United States and the District of Columbia amounted to 1,062,460 physicians. At the time, the national population was roughly 333 million, which yielded a physician-to-population ratio of 313 licensed physicians per 100,000 population. The density of licensed U.S. physicians has steadily increased since 2010.

This statistic displays the average physician-to-population ratio in select U.S. metropolitan areas as of 2013. During this year, there was an average of 268.1 physicians per 100,000 population in Detroit. Boston has one of the overall highest average wait times for a physician appointment. The average cumulative wait time is approximately 18.5 days in 2014, which has decreased since 2004.

Health professionals, especially primary care physicians, are in high demand in many parts of the U.S. Some areas are experiencing health professional shortages. This map shows the ratio of population to primary care physicians in the U.S. Areas in dark red show where there are less primary care physicians per person.The data comes from County Health Rankings, a collaboration between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, measure the health of nearly all counties in the nation and rank them within states. The layer used in the map comes from ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World, and the full documentation for the layer can be found here.County data are suppressed if, for both years of available data, the population reported by agencies is less than 50% of the population reported in Census or less than 80% of agencies measuring crimes reported data.

The distribution of physicians across the United States reveals significant disparities, with California leading the pack at nearly ******* active doctors as of January 2025. This concentration of medical professionals in populous states highlights the ongoing challenge of ensuring adequate healthcare access nationwide. The stark contrast between California's physician count and Wyoming's mere ***** doctors underscores the need for targeted efforts to address healthcare workforce shortages in less populated areas. Primary care and specialist distribution California's dominance in the medical field extends beyond overall physician numbers. The state leads in both primary care physicians and specialists, accounting for over ** percent of each category nationally. This concentration of medical expertise in California reflects broader trends, with New York and Texas following as the states with the highest numbers of active primary care physicians. The distribution of specialists also mirrors national patterns, with psychiatry, surgery, and anaesthesiology among the most common specialties. Physician burnout While the number of physicians continues to grow, physician burnout remains a significant issue. There are large variations in rates of burnout depending on a physician's gender and specialty. For example, burnout is disproportionally high among women, affecting ** percent of female physicians and ** percent of male physicians. Meanwhile, emergency medicine physicians reported the highest levels of burnout among specialists, highlighting the need for targeted interventions to support the individual needs of doctors depending on their different circumstances.

In 2018 the largest percentage of physicians saw between 11 and 20 patients per day. Just 1.3% of physicians saw between 51 and 60 patients per day during that year. When doctors face a high patient burden on a daily basis, research indicates that burn out or medical malpractice could be a result.

Physician time with patients

Physicians and patient time is an important part of a medical relationship. Among all practices, a majority of physicians spent between 17 and 24 minutes with patients. A lack of time between patients and physicians can also lead to patient mistrust. A recent survey indicated that just around half of patients trusted that their doctor prescribed drugs for them because it was the best possible product for them at the time.

Burn out among physicians

Another result of large patient burdens could be burn out. A large majority of physicians have had feelings of burnout in recent years. Different physician specialties have different levels of burnout. The top three specialties for burn out in recent years were urology, neurology and physical medicine/rehabilitation. Among the major causes of burnout among U.S. physicians, over one third of physicians indicated that spending too many hours was a primary factor that causes burnout.

As of January 2025, there were a total of 566,723 specialty physicians active in the United States. Of these, most were specialized in emergency medicine. Physician compensation Significant pay variations exist across specialties and regions, with orthopedic doctors and surgeons command the highest average annual salaries at 558,000 U.S. dollars. Meanwhile, the West North Central area offers the highest average physician compensation at 404,000 U.S. dollars annually. This region's higher pay likely stems from lower physician density in rural areas, creating less competition. Interestingly, doctors in Northeastern and Southwestern parts of the United States tend to earn less than their counterparts in other regions. Burnout among physicians Despite high salaries, U.S. physicians face high workload and stress in the workplace. Nearly half of surveyed doctors reported feeling burnout, with higher burnout rates among female doctors, younger physicians, and those in primary care compared to their counterparts. More effort to combat burnout is needed in the healthcare system. Increasing compensation was cited by physicians as the top measure to alleviate burnout, followed by adding support staff and offering more flexible schedules.

United States US: Physicians: per 1000 People data was reported at 2.568 Ratio in 2014. This records an increase from the previous number of 2.554 Ratio for 2013. United States US: Physicians: per 1000 People data is updated yearly, averaging 1.900 Ratio from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2014, with 39 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 2.704 Ratio in 2004 and a record low of 1.100 Ratio in 1960. United States US: Physicians: per 1000 People data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s USA – Table US.World Bank: Health Statistics. Physicians include generalist and specialist medical practitioners.; ; World Health Organization's Global Health Workforce Statistics, OECD, supplemented by country data.; Weighted average;

This statistic shows the total number of doctors of medicine in the United States from 1949 to 2015. In 1949, there were 201,277 doctors of medicine in the United States. Some 50 years later, the number was around four times as high. In 2015, the exact number of doctors of medicine was 1,085,783.

This is the fourth round of the physician survey component of the Community Tracking Study (CTS). The first round was conducted in 1996-1997 (ICPSR 2597), the second round in 1998-1999 (ICPSR 3267), and the third in 2000-2001 (ICPSR 3820). Sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the CTS is a large-scale investigation of changes in the American health care system and their effects on people. As in the previous rounds, physicians were sampled in the 60 CTS sites: 51 metropolitan and 9 nonmetropolitan areas that were randomly selected to form the core of the CTS and to be representative of the nation as a whole. However, the fourth round lacks an independent supplemental national sample of physicians, which augmented the CTS site sample in the previous rounds. Information collected by the survey includes net income from the practice of medicine, year of birth, sex, race, Hispanic origin, year of graduation from medical school, specialty, board certification status, compensation model, patient mix (e.g., race/Hispanic origin of patients and percent with chronic conditions), career satisfaction, practice type, size, and ownership, percent of practice revenue from Medicare, Medicaid, or managed care, acceptance of new Medicaid and Medicare patients and, if applicable, reasons for not accepting them, use of information technology for care management, number of patient visits and hours worked in medically related activities during the last complete week of work, and the number of hours spent providing charity care in the last month. In addition, the survey elicited views on a number of issues such as patient-physician interactions, competition among practices, the influence of financial incentives on the quantity of services provided to patients, trends in the amount and quality of nursing support, one's ability to provide quality care and obtain needed services for patients, and the importance of various factors that may limit the quality of care. Part 3, the Site and County Crosswalk Data File, identifies the counties that constitute each CTS site. Part 4, Physician Survey Summary File, contains site-level estimates and standard errors for selected physician characteristics, e.g., the average age of physicians, the average percentage of patients with a formulary, and the percentage of physicians who said medical errors in hospitals are a minor problem.

This study comprises the second round of the physician survey component of the Community Tracking Study (CTS) sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The CTS is a national study designed to track changes in the American health care system and the effects of the changes on care delivery and on individuals. Central to the design of the CTS is its community focus. Sixty sites (51 metropolitan areas and 9 nonmetropolitan areas) were randomly selected to form the core of the CTS and to be representative of the nation as a whole. As in the first round of the physician survey (COMMUNITY TRACKING STUDY PHYSICIAN SURVEY, 1996-1997: UNITED STATES), the second round was administered to physicians in the 60 CTS sites and to a supplemental national sample of physicians. The survey instrument collected information on physician supply and specialty distribution, practice arrangements and physician ownership of practices, physician time allocation, sources of practice revenue, level and determinants of physician compensation, provision of charity care, career satisfaction, physicians' perceptions of their ability to deliver care, views on care management strategies, and various other aspects of physicians' practice of medicine. In addition, primary care physicians (PCPs) were asked to recommend courses of action in response to some vignettes of clinical presentations for which there was no prescribed method of treatment. Dataset 3, the Site and County Crosswalk Data File, identifies the counties that constitute each CTS site. Dataset 4, the Physician Survey Summary File, contains site-level estimates and standard errors of the estimates for selected physician characteristics, e.g., the percentage of physicians who were foreign medical school graduates, the mean age of physicians, and the mean percentage of patient care practice revenue from Medicaid.

Despite decades of low utilization, telemedicine adoption expanded at an unprecedented rate during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study examined quantitative and qualitative data provided by a national online sample of 228 practicing physicians (64% were women, and 75% were White) to identify facilitators and barriers to the adoption of telemedicine in the United States (U.S.) at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Logistic regressions were used to predict the most frequently endorsed (20% or more) barriers and facilitators based on participant demographics and practice characteristics. The top five reported barriers were: lack of patient access to technology (77.6%), insufficient insurance reimbursement (53.5%), diminished doctor-patient relationship (46.9%), inadequate video/audio technology (46.1%), and diminished quality of delivered care (42.1%). The top five reported facilitators were: better access to care (75.4%), increased safety (70.6%), efficient use of time (60.5%), lower cost for patients (43%), and effectiveness (28.9%). Physicians’ demographic and practice setting characteristics significantly predicted their endorsement of telemedicine barriers and facilitators. Older physicians were less likely to endorse inefficient use of time (p < 0.001) and potential for medical errors (p = 0.034) as barriers to telemedicine use compared to younger physicians. Physicians working in a medical center were more likely to endorse inadequate video/audio technology (p = 0.037) and lack of patient access to technology (p = 0.035) as a barrier and more likely to endorse lower cost for patients as a facilitator (p = 0.041) than providers working in other settings. Male physicians were more likely to endorse inefficient use of time as a barrier (p = 0.007) than female physicians, and White physicians were less likely to endorse lower costs for patients as a facilitator (p = 0.012) than physicians of color. These findings provide important context for future implementation strategies for healthcare systems attempting to increase telemedicine utilization.

The statistic displays the distribution of active physicians in the United States in 2021, based on specialty and gender. About 80 percent of physicians specializing in pain medicine and pain management are male and 20 percent are female. The largest number of active physicians are among primary care specialties such as internal medicine and general practice.

Abstract (en): Sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, this survey is one component of the Community Tracking Study (CTS), a national study designed to track changes in the health care system and the effects of the changes on care delivery and on individuals. Central to the design of the CTS is its community focus. Sixty sites (51 metropolitan areas and 9 nonmetropolitan areas) were randomly selected to form the core of the CTS and to be representative of the nation as a whole. The Physician Survey was administered to physicians in the 60 CTS sites and to a supplemental national sample of physicians. Information gathered by the survey instrument includes physician supply and specialty distribution, practice arrangements and physician ownership of practices, sources of practice revenue, level and determinants of physician compensation, effects of care management strategies, and physicians' allocation of time, provision of charity care, career satisfaction, and perceptions of their ability to deliver care. For primary care physicians, the survey instrument also provided vignettes of various clinical presentations for which there was no prescribed method of treatment. These physicians were asked to indicate the percentage of patients for whom they would recommend the course of action specified in each particular vignette. Part 3, the Site and County Crosswalk Data File, describes which counties constitute each site. Part 4, the Physician Survey Summary File, contains site-level averages and percentages and standard errors of these estimates for selected attributes, e.g., the percentage of physicians who were foreign medical school graduates, average age of physicians, average percentage of patient care practice revenue from Medicaid, etc. Physicians who were practicing in the contiguous United States, were providing direct patient care for at least 20 hours per week, and were not federal employees. Residents and fellows, as well as physicians in selected specialties, were excluded. The CTS sites were selected using stratified sampling with probability proportional to population size. The supplemental sample, selected with stratified random sampling, was included in the survey to increase the precision of national estimates. The sample frame was developed by combining lists of physicians from the American Medical Association and the American Osteopathic Association. 2011-11-17 ICPSR added Stata setups to this collection.2001-12-21 (1) Data and documentation for the Restricted-Use Version of the Main Data File (Part 2) have been updated. Several variables were revised and other variables have been added or deleted. For a complete description of the changes, see the "What's New" page in the user guide for Part 2. (2) The codebook for the Site and County Crosswalk Data File (Part 3) has been revised. (3) SAS and SPSS data definition statements have been prepared for Parts 3 and 4.1999-11-02 A restricted-use version of the main data file has been added to the collection as Part 2, the Site and County Crosswalk Data File has been added as Part 3, and the Physician Survey Summary File has been added as Part 4. To obtain the restricted-use file, researchers must agree to the terms and conditions of a Restricted Data Use Agreement. Funding insitution(s): Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (29275). More information about this study can be found on the Web site of the Center for Studying Health System Change.

Despite decades of low utilization, telemedicine adoption expanded at an unprecedented rate during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study examined quantitative and qualitative data provided by a national online sample of 228 practicing physicians (64% were women, and 75% were White) to identify facilitators and barriers to the adoption of telemedicine in the United States (U.S.) at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Logistic regressions were used to predict the most frequently endorsed (20% or more) barriers and facilitators based on participant demographics and practice characteristics. The top five reported barriers were: lack of patient access to technology (77.6%), insufficient insurance reimbursement (53.5%), diminished doctor-patient relationship (46.9%), inadequate video/audio technology (46.1%), and diminished quality of delivered care (42.1%). The top five reported facilitators were: better access to care (75.4%), increased safety (70.6%), efficient use of time (60.5%), lower cost for patients (43%), and effectiveness (28.9%). Physicians’ demographic and practice setting characteristics significantly predicted their endorsement of telemedicine barriers and facilitators. Older physicians were less likely to endorse inefficient use of time (p < 0.001) and potential for medical errors (p = 0.034) as barriers to telemedicine use compared to younger physicians. Physicians working in a medical center were more likely to endorse inadequate video/audio technology (p = 0.037) and lack of patient access to technology (p = 0.035) as a barrier and more likely to endorse lower cost for patients as a facilitator (p = 0.041) than providers working in other settings. Male physicians were more likely to endorse inefficient use of time as a barrier (p = 0.007) than female physicians, and White physicians were less likely to endorse lower costs for patients as a facilitator (p = 0.012) than physicians of color. These findings provide important context for future implementation strategies for healthcare systems attempting to increase telemedicine utilization.

In 2022, roughly three in ten surveyed physicians worked in medical practices that were fewer than **** physicians in size. Another *** in ten physicians were in practices of **** to *** physicians, while **** percent were in practices with ** or more physicians. On the other hand, *** in ten physicians surveyed were directly employed or contracted by a hospital. U.S. physicians The number of active doctors of medicine in the U.S. has increased dramatically in the past 50 years. Currently, there are over ********* active doctors in the United States. Among all U.S. states, **********, followed by ********, was the state with the highest number of active physicians. It is estimated that there will be a deficit of over *** thousand physicians by 2030. Medical practices Many sources indicate that physicians are moving away from private practice and into practices owned by hospitals or medical groups. In 2022, a ******** of physicians were practice owners, partners or associates and over **** of physicians were employed by someone else. In the same year, a majority of U.S. physicians said that they are at full capacity or overworked within their practices while only *** ***** of physicians indicated that they had time to see more patients.

The number of male physicians outnumber female physicians in the U.S. in most specialties. The only major exceptions are found in pediatrics, child and adolescent psychiatry, obstetrics and gynecology, although female physicians do slightly outnumber males in a few other specialties. As of 2021, there were around 68,400 male family medicine/general practice physicians compared to 50,000 women in this specialty.

Physicians in the U.S.

Both the number of doctors and rate of doctors in the U.S. have increased over the years. As of 2021, there were around 946,800 active doctors of medicine in the U.S. This was around 29.9 physicians per 10,000 civilian population. In 1995, this rate stood at 24.2 physicians per 10,000 population.

Physicians by state

The states with the highest overall number of active physicians are California, New York, Texas, and Florida. However, the states with the highest rate of physicians per 10,000 civilian population include Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Maryland. The District of Columbia has the highest rate of physicians by a large margin, with around 74.6 physicians per 10,000 population. The state with the highest annual compensation for physicians is Oklahoma, where physicians earn an annual average of 337,000 dollars.

About 33 percent of U.S. physicians spent 17-24 minutes with their patients, according to a survey conducted in 2018. Physicians are often constrained in their time directly working with patients, which could have an impact on patient care outcomes. Studies found out that physicians spend almost half of their time in office on data entry and other desk work. More sophisticated, network-enabled EHR (electronic health records) systems for physicians could probably be a step towards more time directly with patients.

U.S. physicians

Physicians work in a variety of fields and across direct patient care and research. Within the last 50 years, the total number of active physicians has increased dramatically throughout the United States. Among all U.S. states, including the District of Columbia, the District of Columbia had the highest rate of all U.S. states of active physicians.

Physician time

In a recent study, physicians were asked about the time they spend with their patients. According to the results, a majority of physicians said that they felt their time with patients was limited. In 2018, most physicians saw 11-20 patients per day. Some reports have estimated that for every hour of direct patient contact, physicians spend an additional 2 hours working on reporting and desk work. Recent physician surveys have also indicated that one of the primary reasons for physician burn-out is having too many bureaucratic tasks.

Comparitive study of Bayesian versions of top two classification models on the ISIC 2018 dataset.

Comparitive study of classification models on the ISIC 2018 dataset.

According to a 2023 survey, 62 percent of Ob/Gyns were female, the specialty with the highest share of female doctors in the U.S., followed by pediatrics. On the other hand, the medical specialties with the lowest share of female physicians were Orthopedics, Urology, and Cardiology.