Athletic Trainer vs Speech-Language Assistant
Athletic Trainer has 3.4 times as many registry records as Speech-Language Assistant: 44,368 against 12,930. Each count is the NPPES records whose primary taxonomy is the specialty, so it measures how providers describe their main practice, not everyone trained in it.
Athletic Trainer: 44,368 records in 54 states
Speech-Language Assistant: 12,930 records in 52 states
By state, with records per 100,000 residents
| State | Athletic Trainer | Speech-Language Assistant | Per 100,000 (first) | Per 100,000 (second) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 3,006 | 3,430 | 9.9 | 11.2 |
| California | 2,605 | 2,532 | 6.7 | 6.5 |
| Florida | 2,200 | 1,571 | 9.7 | 6.9 |
| Arizona | 644 | 2,340 | 8.7 | 31.5 |
| Pennsylvania | 2,868 | 14 | 22.1 | 0.1 |
| Ohio | 2,396 | 7 | 20.3 | 0.1 |
| Illinois | 1,930 | 182 | 15.4 | 1.5 |
| New York | 1,602 | 155 | 8.2 | 0.8 |
| North Carolina | 1,633 | 94 | 15.1 | 0.9 |
| Indiana | 1,588 | 39 | 23.1 | 0.6 |
| Michigan | 1,522 | 17 | 15.2 | 0.2 |
| Virginia | 1,450 | 49 | 16.8 | 0.6 |
| Georgia | 1,420 | 22 | 12.9 | 0.2 |
| Missouri | 1,036 | 265 | 16.7 | 4.3 |
| Wisconsin | 1,231 | 7 | 20.8 | 0.1 |
| Massachusetts | 1,067 | 110 | 15.2 | 1.6 |
| New Jersey | 1,147 | 10 | 12.3 | 0.1 |
| Washington | 820 | 246 | 10.5 | 3.1 |
| Minnesota | 1,030 | 13 | 18.0 | 0.2 |
| South Carolina | 919 | 87 | 17.1 | 1.6 |
| Tennessee | 845 | 44 | 11.9 | 0.6 |
| Maryland | 713 | 99 | 11.5 | 1.6 |
| Louisiana | 637 | 148 | 13.9 | 3.2 |
| Utah | 712 | 33 | 20.8 | 1.0 |
| Colorado | 694 | 44 | 11.8 | 0.7 |
| Alabama | 724 | 12 | 14.2 | 0.2 |
| Kentucky | 671 | 6 | 14.8 | 0.1 |
| Arkansas | 394 | 277 | 12.8 | 9.0 |
| Iowa | 667 | 0 | 20.8 | 0.0 |
| Oklahoma | 440 | 226 | 10.9 | 5.6 |
| Connecticut | 633 | 4 | 17.5 | 0.1 |
| Kansas | 588 | 12 | 20.0 | 0.4 |
| Nebraska | 457 | 23 | 23.1 | 1.2 |
| Maine | 276 | 142 | 19.8 | 10.2 |
| Oregon | 382 | 34 | 9.0 | 0.8 |
| Idaho | 328 | 8 | 16.7 | 0.4 |
| Mississippi | 331 | 5 | 11.3 | 0.2 |
| New Hampshire | 294 | 26 | 21.0 | 1.9 |
| West Virginia | 290 | 4 | 16.4 | 0.2 |
| New Mexico | 212 | 48 | 10.0 | 2.3 |
| Nevada | 247 | 10 | 7.7 | 0.3 |
| North Dakota | 237 | 17 | 30.2 | 2.2 |
| Montana | 241 | 4 | 21.3 | 0.4 |
| South Dakota | 231 | 11 | 25.1 | 1.2 |
| Delaware | 238 | 2 | 23.1 | 0.2 |
| Hawaii | 199 | 4 | 13.9 | 0.3 |
| Vermont | 188 | 1 | 29.0 | 0.2 |
| District of Columbia | 134 | 4 | 19.7 | 0.6 |
| Rhode Island | 127 | 5 | 11.6 | 0.5 |
| Alaska | 42 | 56 | 5.7 | 7.6 |
| Wyoming | 68 | 8 | 11.6 | 1.4 |
Source: CMS NPPES (NPPES files on CMS.gov), primary NUCC taxonomy by practice state; 2023 population estimates (census.gov).
Common questions
How many Athletic Trainer providers are there vs Speech-Language Assistant?
There are 44,368 Athletic Trainer and 12,930 Speech-Language Assistant records in the CMS NPPES registry, counted by primary taxonomy.
Which specialty is spread across more states?
Athletic Trainer has records in 54 states and territories, against 52.
Where is the data from?
Provider counts are from the CMS National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES). Per-capita rates use 2023 Census population estimates.
Figures on PlainDoctor are read from the federal files each page names (CMS NPPES, Medicare Part D, MIPS, Open Payments; the HHS-OIG exclusion list only as counts) and from Census population estimates, with the file date shown beside them. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of the NPPES file of Aug 9, 2026.