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Frequently asked questions
How many physicians are there in the US?
1,272,256 physicians hold an active NPI in the September 2026 NPPES file. NPPES keeps a provider until the identifier is deactivated, so this is above a count of practising physicians: the FSMB 2024 census counted 1,082,187 actively licensed physicians. Physicians.
How many nurse practitioners are there in the US?
530,577 nurse practitioners are on the September 2026 NPPES file. AANP put the figure at more than 461,000 in November 2025. Nurse practitioners.
How many dentists and pharmacists are there?
275,976 dentists and 328,832 pharmacists are on the September 2026 NPPES file. The ADA counted 205,088 professionally active dentists in 2025, and BLS counted 321,970 employed pharmacists in May 2025. Dentists.
Where do the counts come from?
Licensing counts come from full public files: the NPPES provider file, the CMS Doctors and Clinicians file, state licence rolls from Texas, Illinois, Washington, Florida and California, and BLS OEWS. Executive-title reports use press coverage, company pages and LinkedIn job titles, as set out in each report. Method.
Which states have licence counts?
Real estate agents in California and Texas, insurance producers in Florida and Texas, professional engineers in Texas, contractors in Washington, and 13 licence board types in Illinois. The health professions are counted nationally. All count pages.
Why are attorneys and financial advisers not counted?
No open person-level roll of attorneys was found in any state probed. The SEC and FINRA systems answer name queries only, with no bulk file of advisers. What is not counted.
When were the counts taken?
The licence rolls were pulled on 15 September 2026. Each page names its source file and count date.
Does ProfessionLens publish individual names?
Count pages carry no individual names, only counts by profession, state, county and employer. Research reports on executive titles name the office holders found in press and company sources. Research.
Why do some cells read <5 or n/a?
A count under 5 prints as <5. A share whose base is under 20 prints n/a.
Is ProfessionLens free to use?
Yes. Every count is free to read and to cite. Link the page the number came from and give its count date.
Can I download the data?
Each research post links a CSV of the rows behind it. The research datasets are also published on GitHub. professionlens-data.
How do I report an error or request removal?
Email hello@professionlens.com with the page URL and what is wrong.