NPPES file of Aug 9, 2026

Pharmacist license lookup

Pharmacists are licensed by each state's board of pharmacy, and no free public search covers every state: verify on the board of the state where the pharmacist practices. 325,301 NPPES records list one of the pharmacist taxonomy codes (183500000X and its specializations) as their primary type, 96 per 100,000 residents across the 50 states and D.C. (file of Aug 9, 2026).

CMS NPPES, file of Aug 9, 2026; 2023 Census estimates; the state boards named below · method

Verify a pharmacist license, step by step

  1. Find the pharmacist's NPI and practice state in the NPI lookup. The NPPES record often lists the license number and state the pharmacist reported.
  2. Search that state's board of pharmacy (the table on this page). Note the license status, the expiration date and any public board action.
  3. A pharmacist who works in several states holds a license in each; check the state where they work, not only where they trained.
  4. For anyone who bills Medicare or Medicaid, search the HHS-OIG exclusion list.
  5. For a pharmacy, the business, the board licenses the pharmacy itself; its NPI is an organization record in the organization lookup.

Which search, by state

West Virginia has the most pharmacist records per resident

West Virginia has 140 pharmacist records per 100,000 residents and Utah the fewest, 67; the 50 states and D.C. together have 96. These count NPPES records by practice state, not licenses: a pharmacist licensed in two states has one NPI, and some records belong to people no longer practising.

  1. West Virginia140
  2. New York124
  3. North Dakota122
  4. South Dakota117
  5. Wyoming115
  6. Washington, D.C.114
  7. Tennessee114
  8. Washington114
  9. 50 states and D.C.96

Source: CMS NPPES, primary taxonomy 1835* by practice state, file of Aug 9, 2026 (NPPES files on CMS.gov); 2023 Census population estimates.

Common questions

Is there a national pharmacist license lookup?

No free public search covers every state. Each state board of pharmacy keeps its own license records and search, so check the board of the state where the pharmacist practices.

Does an NPI prove a pharmacist is licensed?

No. An NPI is an identifier CMS issues for billing; it is not a license. The state board of pharmacy search is the license record.

Are pharmacy technicians in the same search?

In most states the board of pharmacy also registers or licenses pharmacy technicians, and its search covers them; check the board of the state concerned.

Source: the state boards named above; CMS NPPES NPI Registry (npiregistry.cms.hhs.gov); HHS-OIG exclusion list (exclusions.oig.hhs.gov). PlainDoctor is not a primary-source verifier. License lookup by state.

Written with AI tools from the named public files; every figure is computed from those files (how it is made).

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 Aug 9, 2026.