NPPES file of Aug 9, 2026

Mental Health Counselor vs School Counselor

Mental Health Counselor has 50.2 times as many registry records as School Counselor: 290,729 against 5,793. 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.

CMS NPPES, file of Aug 9, 2026; 2023 Census population estimates · method

Mental Health Counselor: 290,729 records in 55 states

  1. California28,617
  2. Florida23,249
  3. New York19,989
  4. Massachusetts18,415
  5. Washington18,094

Mental Health Counselor nationwide →

School Counselor: 5,793 records in 52 states

  1. California2,897
  2. Arizona404
  3. New York353
  4. Massachusetts239
  5. Virginia237

School Counselor nationwide →

By state, with records per 100,000 residents

StateMental Health CounselorSchool CounselorPer 100,000 (first)Per 100,000 (second)
California28,6172,89773.47.4
Florida23,249110102.80.5
New York19,989353102.11.8
Massachusetts18,415239263.03.4
Washington18,09433231.60.4
Oregon15,190188358.84.4
Illinois10,7164685.40.4
Pennsylvania10,0197877.30.6
New Jersey10,00931107.70.3
Texas9,7825332.10.2
North Carolina8,85810581.71.0
Colorado8,62643146.80.7
Ohio7,7649065.90.8
Oklahoma6,52069160.81.7
Louisiana5,28654115.61.2
Indiana4,9625972.30.9
Georgia4,8786744.20.6
Tennessee4,69810365.91.4
Nebraska4,49032227.01.6
Virginia4,08823747.32.7
South Carolina4,1895678.01.0
Maryland4,2013568.00.6
Minnesota4,1331472.00.2
Michigan3,9875539.70.5
Kentucky3,7941783.80.4
Arizona3,26040443.95.4
Mississippi3,16325107.60.9
Utah2,8133182.30.9
New Mexico2,72218128.70.9
Arkansas2,663986.80.3
Wisconsin2,6223544.40.6
Iowa2,567580.00.2
Nevada2,4681677.30.5
Missouri2,3992638.70.4
Connecticut2,3863066.00.8
New Hampshire2,2849162.90.6
Alabama2,2431343.90.3
Alaska2,23710305.01.4
Idaho1,620982.50.5
Vermont1,5064232.60.6
Rhode Island1,4376131.10.5
Maine1,151582.50.4
Montana1,1461101.20.1
Hawaii1,0491673.11.1
Delaware793776.80.7
District of Columbia75121110.63.1
South Dakota753181.90.1
Kansas716224.30.1
West Virginia6941039.20.6
Wyoming3271056.01.7
North Dakota230329.30.4

Source: CMS NPPES (NPPES files on CMS.gov), primary NUCC taxonomy by practice state; 2023 population estimates (census.gov).

Common questions

How many Mental Health Counselor providers are there vs School Counselor?

There are 290,729 Mental Health Counselor and 5,793 School Counselor records in the CMS NPPES registry, counted by primary taxonomy.

Which specialty is spread across more states?

Mental Health Counselor has records in 55 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.

Two specialties are not substitutes: scope of practice, training and the conditions treated differ. More comparisons →

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.