Medical Physician Assistant vs Physician Assistant
Physician Assistant has 4.2 times as many registry records as Medical Physician Assistant: 163,889 against 39,144. 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.
Medical Physician Assistant: 39,144 records in 55 states
Physician Assistant: 163,889 records in 56 states
By state, with records per 100,000 residents
| State | Medical Physician Assistant | Physician Assistant | Per 100,000 (first) | Per 100,000 (second) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 3,670 | 15,555 | 18.8 | 79.5 |
| California | 3,376 | 14,451 | 8.7 | 37.1 |
| Texas | 2,146 | 10,999 | 7.0 | 36.1 |
| Florida | 2,776 | 10,257 | 12.3 | 45.4 |
| Pennsylvania | 3,897 | 8,020 | 30.1 | 61.9 |
| North Carolina | 1,352 | 9,279 | 12.5 | 85.6 |
| Michigan | 1,140 | 6,989 | 11.4 | 69.6 |
| Ohio | 846 | 5,325 | 7.2 | 45.2 |
| Georgia | 1,302 | 4,662 | 11.8 | 42.3 |
| Massachusetts | 886 | 4,713 | 12.7 | 67.3 |
| Illinois | 671 | 4,926 | 5.3 | 39.3 |
| Virginia | 941 | 4,408 | 10.9 | 51.0 |
| Colorado | 1,308 | 3,767 | 22.3 | 64.1 |
| Washington | 1,068 | 3,718 | 13.7 | 47.6 |
| Arizona | 996 | 3,666 | 13.4 | 49.3 |
| Minnesota | 459 | 4,007 | 8.0 | 69.8 |
| New Jersey | 794 | 3,393 | 8.5 | 36.5 |
| Wisconsin | 687 | 3,475 | 11.6 | 58.8 |
| Maryland | 871 | 3,224 | 14.1 | 52.2 |
| Tennessee | 616 | 3,055 | 8.6 | 42.9 |
| Connecticut | 1,138 | 2,047 | 31.5 | 56.6 |
| Indiana | 405 | 2,419 | 5.9 | 35.3 |
| Oregon | 699 | 2,094 | 16.5 | 49.5 |
| South Carolina | 493 | 2,294 | 9.2 | 42.7 |
| Oklahoma | 513 | 1,870 | 12.7 | 46.1 |
| Kentucky | 323 | 1,958 | 7.1 | 43.3 |
| Utah | 373 | 1,887 | 10.9 | 55.2 |
| Missouri | 317 | 1,790 | 5.1 | 28.9 |
| Louisiana | 340 | 1,556 | 7.4 | 34.0 |
| Iowa | 235 | 1,525 | 7.3 | 47.6 |
| Nebraska | 294 | 1,352 | 14.9 | 68.3 |
| Idaho | 371 | 1,250 | 18.9 | 63.6 |
| Kansas | 279 | 1,329 | 9.5 | 45.2 |
| West Virginia | 320 | 1,145 | 18.1 | 64.7 |
| Nevada | 330 | 1,083 | 10.3 | 33.9 |
| Alabama | 228 | 1,148 | 4.5 | 22.5 |
| Maine | 238 | 979 | 17.1 | 70.1 |
| New Hampshire | 248 | 947 | 17.7 | 67.5 |
| New Mexico | 274 | 847 | 13.0 | 40.1 |
| Montana | 269 | 698 | 23.7 | 61.6 |
| Delaware | 111 | 695 | 10.8 | 67.4 |
| Rhode Island | 117 | 683 | 10.7 | 62.3 |
| Alaska | 250 | 542 | 34.1 | 73.9 |
| Arkansas | 176 | 599 | 5.7 | 19.5 |
| South Dakota | 96 | 674 | 10.4 | 73.3 |
| District of Columbia | 210 | 558 | 30.9 | 82.2 |
| North Dakota | 101 | 464 | 12.9 | 59.2 |
| Hawaii | 111 | 387 | 7.7 | 27.0 |
| Vermont | 98 | 321 | 15.1 | 49.6 |
| Mississippi | 75 | 338 | 2.6 | 11.5 |
| Wyoming | 91 | 260 | 15.6 | 44.5 |
Source: CMS NPPES (NPPES files on CMS.gov), primary NUCC taxonomy by practice state; 2023 population estimates (census.gov).
Common questions
How many Medical Physician Assistant providers are there vs Physician Assistant?
There are 39,144 Medical Physician Assistant and 163,889 Physician Assistant records in the CMS NPPES registry, counted by primary taxonomy.
Which specialty is spread across more states?
Physician Assistant has records in 56 states and territories, against 55.
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.