NPPES file of Aug 9, 2026

Doctors and health care providers in South Carolina

86,596 individual NPPES records list a practice address in South Carolina, 1,612 per 100,000 residents, below the 2,176 across the 50 states and D.C.; records with an MD or DO credential: 318 per 100,000, against 375 nationally. Licenses are checked on the South Carolina Board of Medical Examiners search.

CMS NPPES registry, file of Aug 9, 2026; HHS-OIG LEIE of Sep 10, 2026; 2023 Census estimates · method

Written with AI tools from the named public files; every figure is computed from those files (how it is made).
South Carolina license search South Carolina Board of Medical Examiners: the official search for a license's status and public orders. Open the South Carolina license search

Family Medicine is South Carolina's largest physician specialty

18,016 records in South Carolina list a physician taxonomy (allopathic or osteopathic, NUCC 207 and 208) as their primary type. The eight largest specialties, each linked to its South Carolina list:

  1. Family Medicine2,700
  2. Internal Medicine1,881
  3. Emergency Medicine1,244
  4. Pediatrics1,136
  5. Psychiatry891
  6. Anesthesiology787
  7. Obstetrics & Gynecology752
  8. Surgery647

Source: CMS NPPES flagged primary taxonomy, physician codes 207 and 208, file of Aug 9, 2026.

Across every provider type, Pharmacist is the largest group

  1. Pharmacist5,196
  2. Family Nurse Practitioner4,320
  3. Mental Health Counselor4,189
  4. Physical Therapist3,905
  5. Behavior Technician3,490
  6. Speech-Language Pathologist3,161
  7. Family Medicine Physician2,700
  8. Professional Counselor2,577

Columbia has the most records

  1. Columbia11,200
  2. Charleston10,840
  3. Greenville10,264
  4. Spartanburg3,328
  5. Florence2,634
  6. Myrtle Beach2,599
  7. Rock Hill2,271
  8. Anderson2,108

Source: CMS NPPES primary taxonomy and practice city, file of Aug 9, 2026.

What's distinctive here

The specialties South Carolina has more, and fewer, of than the nation

Relative to its size, South Carolina has about 1.5× the national share of family nurse practitioners and only 0.51× the share of behavior technicians. These gaps reflect how each state licenses and classifies professions, not how much care is available.

More common in South Carolina

Less common in South Carolina

Each multiple is South Carolina's share of that specialty divided by its national share, among specialties with at least 3,000 providers in-state. Source: CMS NPPES, current release.

721 South Carolina entries on the federal exclusion list

13.4 per 100,000 residents, against 25 for the 50 states and D.C. The most common reason in South Carolina: conviction for a program-related crime. Excluded people and businesses cannot bill Medicare or Medicaid. How to check a provider →

  1. Conviction for a program-related crime330
  2. Conviction for patient abuse or neglect130
  3. License revoked, suspended or surrendered107
  4. Felony conviction for health care fraud53
  5. Felony conviction for a controlled substance31

Source: HHS-OIG List of Excluded Individuals/Entities (LEIE), file of Sep 10, 2026 (oig.hhs.gov), entries with a South Carolina address, five most common authorities.

The 30 South Carolina cities with the most records

  1. Columbia11,200
  2. Charleston10,840
  3. Greenville10,264
  4. Spartanburg3,328
  5. Florence2,634
  6. Myrtle Beach2,599
  7. Rock Hill2,271
  8. Anderson2,108
  9. North Charleston1,964
  10. Lexington1,926
  11. Summerville1,915
  12. West Columbia1,887
  13. Aiken1,385
  14. Sumter1,265
  15. Greenwood1,262
  16. Conway1,257
  17. Mount Pleasant1,227
  18. Beaufort1,190
  19. Simpsonville1,142
  20. Greer1,131
  21. Mt Pleasant1,043
  22. Fort Mill943
  23. Orangeburg850
  24. Bluffton820
  25. Easley779
  26. Seneca697
  27. Moncks Corner604
  28. Irmo583
  29. Goose Creek569
  30. Hilton Head Island500

Common questions

How many healthcare providers are in South Carolina?

86,596 individual NPPES records list a practice address in South Carolina, under 539 provider taxonomy codes. A record is a registration, not a license: it includes clinicians, technicians and students in training.

What is the most common physician specialty in South Carolina?

Family Medicine, with 2,700 records, followed by internal medicine (1,881). Across every provider type the largest group is Pharmacist (5,196 records).

How do I find a doctor in South Carolina?

Open a physician specialty above for its South Carolina list and its cities, or search a name or NPI with the state set to SC. PlainDoctor does not filter by insurance or rate doctors; check the license on the state board before booking.

The largest states

  1. California974,315
  2. New York545,291
  3. Florida470,495
  4. Texas433,013
  5. Ohio327,042

All states →

Source: CMS National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES), file of Aug 9, 2026 (NPPES files on CMS.gov); 2023 Census population estimates. Records are self-reported registrations, not licenses; PlainDoctor does not rate or recommend providers; its rankings sort billing figures, not quality.

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.