Physician Assistant vs Surgical Physician Assistant
Physician Assistant has 9.4 times as many registry records as Surgical Physician Assistant: 163,889 against 17,456. 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.
Physician Assistant: 163,889 records in 56 states
Surgical Physician Assistant: 17,456 records in 54 states
By state, with records per 100,000 residents
| State | Physician Assistant | Surgical Physician Assistant | Per 100,000 (first) | Per 100,000 (second) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 15,555 | 2,152 | 79.5 | 11.0 |
| California | 14,451 | 1,075 | 37.1 | 2.8 |
| Texas | 10,999 | 1,350 | 36.1 | 4.4 |
| Florida | 10,257 | 1,444 | 45.4 | 6.4 |
| North Carolina | 9,279 | 372 | 85.6 | 3.4 |
| Pennsylvania | 8,020 | 832 | 61.9 | 6.4 |
| Michigan | 6,989 | 325 | 69.6 | 3.2 |
| Ohio | 5,325 | 395 | 45.2 | 3.4 |
| Illinois | 4,926 | 599 | 39.3 | 4.8 |
| Massachusetts | 4,713 | 516 | 67.3 | 7.4 |
| Georgia | 4,662 | 531 | 42.3 | 4.8 |
| Virginia | 4,408 | 278 | 51.0 | 3.2 |
| Colorado | 3,767 | 699 | 64.1 | 11.9 |
| Washington | 3,718 | 609 | 47.6 | 7.8 |
| Minnesota | 4,007 | 227 | 69.8 | 4.0 |
| Arizona | 3,666 | 420 | 49.3 | 5.7 |
| New Jersey | 3,393 | 558 | 36.5 | 6.0 |
| Wisconsin | 3,475 | 287 | 58.8 | 4.9 |
| Maryland | 3,224 | 397 | 52.2 | 6.4 |
| Tennessee | 3,055 | 297 | 42.9 | 4.2 |
| Connecticut | 2,047 | 808 | 56.6 | 22.3 |
| South Carolina | 2,294 | 295 | 42.7 | 5.5 |
| Indiana | 2,419 | 164 | 35.3 | 2.4 |
| Oregon | 2,094 | 362 | 49.5 | 8.6 |
| Kentucky | 1,958 | 117 | 43.3 | 2.6 |
| Utah | 1,887 | 145 | 55.2 | 4.2 |
| Oklahoma | 1,870 | 111 | 46.1 | 2.7 |
| Missouri | 1,790 | 176 | 28.9 | 2.8 |
| Louisiana | 1,556 | 155 | 34.0 | 3.4 |
| Iowa | 1,525 | 58 | 47.6 | 1.8 |
| Nebraska | 1,352 | 126 | 68.3 | 6.4 |
| Kansas | 1,329 | 114 | 45.2 | 3.9 |
| Alabama | 1,148 | 201 | 22.5 | 3.9 |
| Idaho | 1,250 | 89 | 63.6 | 4.5 |
| West Virginia | 1,145 | 79 | 64.7 | 4.5 |
| Nevada | 1,083 | 105 | 33.9 | 3.3 |
| Maine | 979 | 205 | 70.1 | 14.7 |
| New Hampshire | 947 | 125 | 67.5 | 8.9 |
| New Mexico | 847 | 69 | 40.1 | 3.3 |
| Montana | 698 | 77 | 61.6 | 6.8 |
| Delaware | 695 | 61 | 67.4 | 5.9 |
| Rhode Island | 683 | 70 | 62.3 | 6.4 |
| South Dakota | 674 | 40 | 73.3 | 4.4 |
| District of Columbia | 558 | 94 | 82.2 | 13.8 |
| Arkansas | 599 | 44 | 19.5 | 1.4 |
| Alaska | 542 | 42 | 73.9 | 5.7 |
| North Dakota | 464 | 12 | 59.2 | 1.5 |
| Hawaii | 387 | 34 | 27.0 | 2.4 |
| Mississippi | 338 | 48 | 11.5 | 1.6 |
| Vermont | 321 | 34 | 49.6 | 5.3 |
| Wyoming | 260 | 29 | 44.5 | 5.0 |
Source: CMS NPPES (NPPES files on CMS.gov), primary NUCC taxonomy by practice state; 2023 population estimates (census.gov).
Common questions
How many Physician Assistant providers are there vs Surgical Physician Assistant?
There are 163,889 Physician Assistant and 17,456 Surgical 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 54.
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.