Massachusetts has the most active nurse practitioners of any state per capita, while Hawaii has the fewest, according to a ranking Kaiser Family Foundation released Feb. 7.
The ranking is based on information from Redi-Data on the amount of active state-licensed nurse practitioners in the U.S. as of January. Population data is from the U.S. Census Bureau. Becker's used these figures to calculate the number of nurse practitioners per 100,000 people for each state.
In total, there are 268,055 active nurse practitioners in the U.S., up from 259,921 in April 2021.
Below are the states and Washington, D.C., ranked by the number of active nurse practitioners per capita.
1. Massachusetts
NPs per capita: 141.31 per 100,000
NP total: 9,741
State population: 6,893,574
2. Connecticut
NPs per capita: 140.71
NP total: 5,005
State population: 3,557,006
3. Mississippi
NPs per capita: 138.77
NP total: 4,117
State population: 2,966,786
4. Florida
NPs per capita: 135.41
NP total: 29,429
State population: 21,733,312
5. Maine
NPs per capita: 134.36
NP total: 1,814
State population: 1,350,141
6. Tennessee
NPs per capita: 132.09
NP total: 9,097
State population: 6,886,834
7. Kentucky
NPs per capita: 129.79
NP total: 5,811
State population: 4,477,251
8. Rhode Island
NPs per capita: 122.6
NP total: 1,296
State population: 1,057,125
9. Maryland
NPs per capita: 114.15
NP total: 6,913
State population: 6,055,802
10. South Dakota
NPs per capita: 111.01
NP total: 991
State population: 892,717
11. Ohio
NPs per capita: 110.08
NP total: 12,872
State population: 11,693,217
12. West Virginia
NPs per capita: 108.81
NP total: 1,942
State population: 1,784,787
13. Alaska
NPs per capita: 106.82
NP total: 781
State population: 731,158
14. Missouri
NPs per capita: 106.53
NP total: 6,553
State population: 6,151,548
15. Virginia
NPs per capita: 105.27
NP total: 9,043
State population: 8,590,563
16. Vermont
NPs per capita: 102.67
NP total: 640
State population: 623,347
17. New Jersey
NPs per capita: 100.07
NP total: 8,889
State population: 8,882,371
18. Nebraska
NPs per capita: 99.15
NP total: 1,921
State population: 1,937,552
19. Georgia
NPs per capita: 96.47
NP total: 10,332
State population: 10,710,017
20. Montana
NPs per capita: 95.5
NP total: 1,032
State population: 1,080,577
21. Arkansas
NPs per capita: 93.94
NP total: 2,847
State population: 3,030,522
22. Alabama
NPs per capita: 93.55
NP total: 4,604
State population: 4,921,532
23. Iowa
NPs per capita: 92.65
NP total: 2,931
State population: 3,163,561
24. Minnesota
NPs per capita: 88.52
NP total: 5,008
State population: 5,657,342
25. New Mexico
NPs per capita: 85.12
NP total: 1,793
State population: 2,106,319
26. New Hampshire
NPs per capita: 84.32
NP total: 1,152
State population: 1,366,275
27. Colorado
NPs per capita: 83.53
NP total: 4,851
State population: 5,807,719
28. Michigan
NPs per capita: 83.17
NP total: 8,289
State population: 9,966,555
29. North Dakota
NPs per capita: 80.23
NP total: 614
State population: 765,309
30. Idaho
NPs per capita: 79.2
NP total: 1,447
State population: 1,826,913
31. Texas
NPs per capita: 74.02
NP total: 21,734
State population: 29,360,759
32. Delaware
NPs per capita: 73.47
NP total: 725
State population: 986,809
33. District of Columbia
NPs per capita: 71.97
NP total: 513
State population: 712,816
34. Nevada
NPs per capita: 70.45
NP total: 2,211
State population: 3,138,259
35. Illinois
NPs per capita: 68.33
NP total: 8,601
State population: 12,587,530
36. Kansas
NPs per capita: 66.27
NP total: 1,931
State population: 2,913,805
37. Oregon
NPs per capita: 61.96
NP total: 2,628
State population: 4,241,507
38. California
NPs per capita: 61.27
NP total: 24,119
State population: 39,368,078
39. Pennsylvania
NPs per capita: 60.22
NP total: 7,698
State population: 12,783,254
40. Oklahoma
NPs per capita: 59.18
NP total: 2,356
State population: 3,980,783
41. New York
NPs per capita: 56.36
NP total: 10,898
State population: 19,336,776
42. Indiana
NPs per capita: 50.41
NP total: 3,405
State population: 6,754,953
43. Arizona
NPs per capita: 47.74
NP total: 3,543
State population: 7,421,401
44. Wisconsin
NPs per capita: 47.15
NP total: 2,750
State population: 58,32,655
45. Wyoming
NPs per capita: 46.37
NP total: 270
State population: 582,328
46. Louisiana
NPs per capita: 45.53
NP total: 2,115
State population: 4,645,318
47. North Carolina
NPs per capita: 42.41
NP total: 4,496
State population: 10,600,823
48. Utah
NPs per capita: 38.4
NP total: 1,248
State population: 3,249,879
49. Washington
NPs per capita: 38.34
NP total: 2,950
State population: 7,693,612
50. South Carolina
NPs per capita: 33.5
NP total: 1,748
State population: 5,218,040
51. Hawaii
NPs per capita: 25.66
NP total: 361
State population: 1,407,006