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How many chiropractors are there in the US? 105,599
ProfessionLens, 2026-10-28
There are 105,599 chiropractors in the United States with an active NPI on the CMS NPPES file of September 2026. That is about one chiropractor for every 2.8 physical therapists (291,006 on the same file).
We counted every individual record that holds a chiropractor taxonomy code in any of its 15 slots and whose NPI has not been deactivated. An NPI never expires, so some of these people have retired or stopped seeing patients. Read the count as the number of people registered to bill as a chiropractor.
Almost half work for themselves
48,794 chiropractors, 46.2%, have set the sole proprietor flag on their NPI record. Among physical therapists the share is 22.0%.
| Chiropractors | Share | |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 105,599 | 100.0% |
| Flagged as sole proprietor | 48,794 | 46.2% |
| Sex code M | 72,411 | 68.6% |
| Sex code F | 33,128 | 31.4% |
| Primary taxonomy is chiropractic | 104,345 | 98.8% |
By state
Iowa has 2,106 chiropractors and Mississippi has 335. The two states have about the same population (3.24 million and 2.94 million), so Iowa has six times as many per resident. Davenport, Iowa, is home to Palmer College of Chiropractic, the first school of the profession.
North Dakota and Iowa both have 65.0 chiropractors per 100,000 residents. Mississippi has 11.4, the lowest of any state, and only Washington DC is lower at 11.0. Across the 50 states, DC and Puerto Rico the figure is 30.7.
| State | Chiropractors | Per 100,000 residents |
|---|---|---|
| California | 13,072 | 33.2 |
| Texas | 7,917 | 25.3 |
| Florida | 7,625 | 32.6 |
| New York | 5,109 | 25.7 |
| Illinois | 4,945 | 38.9 |
| Pennsylvania | 4,265 | 32.6 |
| Minnesota | 3,620 | 62.5 |
| Georgia | 3,590 | 32.1 |
| Washington | 3,269 | 41.1 |
| New Jersey | 3,257 | 34.3 |
| Highest per 100,000 | Lowest per 100,000 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| North Dakota | 65.0 | Mississippi | 11.4 |
| Iowa | 65.0 | Maryland | 16.2 |
| Minnesota | 62.5 | West Virginia | 16.4 |
| South Dakota | 60.0 | Louisiana | 17.7 |
| Kansas | 52.5 | Alabama | 18.5 |
All 50 states, DC and Puerto Rico are in chiropractors_by_state.csv.
New chiropractors by year
Since 2012 the register has added between 2,149 and 2,739 chiropractors a year. Physical therapists grew faster: in 2008 there were 3.0 new physical therapists for every new chiropractor, and in 2025 there were 4.7.
The share of women changed more. Of the chiropractors who got their NPI in 2006, 22.5% carry sex code F. Of those who got it in 2025, 45.5% do.
| NPI issued | Chiropractors | Share sex code F | Physical therapists |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 2,363 | 39.1% | 10,387 |
| 2016 | 2,422 | 40.9% | 10,863 |
| 2017 | 2,340 | 42.1% | 11,267 |
| 2018 | 2,341 | 41.9% | 14,349 |
| 2019 | 2,362 | 41.9% | 12,752 |
| 2020 | 2,149 | 42.2% | 12,250 |
| 2021 | 2,532 | 43.0% | 12,889 |
| 2022 | 2,560 | 44.3% | 12,267 |
| 2023 | 2,520 | 45.7% | 12,658 |
| 2024 | 2,490 | 45.4% | 12,613 |
| 2025 | 2,739 | 45.5% | 12,884 |
| 2026 to mid September | 1,810 | 44.7% | 10,189 |
These are records still active today, so earlier years lose the people who have since deactivated their NPI.
Specializations
98,209 chiropractors, 93.0%, hold the general code. The largest specialty codes are sports (2,789), rehabilitation (2,474), nutrition (1,499), orthopedic (1,166) and neurology (992). A specialty code is self-reported on the NPI record and is not a board certification.
Method
Source: ProfessionLens, October 2026. CMS NPPES full replacement file, September 2026; NUCC taxonomy code set 26.1; US Census Bureau state population estimates, 1 July 2024. Individuals only, deactivated NPIs dropped unless reactivated, state from the practice location address. The script and the files are in the dataset folder.
Data
Cite this
ProfessionLens, How many chiropractors are there in the US? 105,599, 2026-10-28, https://professionlens.com/research/how-many-chiropractors-are-there-in-the-us.