The District of Columbia has the most active nurse practitioners per capita, while Hawaii has the fewest for the second year in a row, according to a ranking from KFF.
KFF requested from Redi-Data the number of active state-licensed nurse practitioners in the U.S. as of September. Population estimates are 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.
There are 463,456 active nurse practitioners in the U.S., up from 284,717 in January 2024.
Here are the states and the District of Columbia, with the number of active nurse practitioners per capita:
| State | Total NPs | State population | NPs per capita |
| Alabama | 8,465 | 5,157,699 | 164.12 |
| Alaska | 1,018 | 740,133 | 137.54 |
| Arizona | 9,287 | 7,582,384 | 122.48 |
| Arkansas | 4,039 | 3,088,354 | 130.78 |
| California | 46,684 | 39,431,263 | 118.39 |
| Colorado | 10,597 | 5,957,493 | 177.88 |
| Connecticut | 5,641 | 3,675,069 | 153.49 |
| Delaware | 1,417 | 1,051,917 | 134.71 |
| District of Columbia | 2,098 | 702,250 | 298.75 |
| Florida | 36,336 | 23,372,215 | 155.47 |
| Georgia | 15,524 | 11,180,878 | 138.84 |
| Hawaii | 845 | 1,446,146 | 58.43 |
| Idaho | 2,332 | 2,001,619 | 116.51 |
| Illinois | 13,221 | 12,710,158 | 104.02 |
| Indiana | 8,397 | 6,924,275 | 121.27 |
| Iowa | 4,088 | 3,241,488 | 126.11 |
| Kansas | 3,251 | 2,970,606 | 109.44 |
| Kentucky | 7,903 | 4,588,372 | 172.24 |
| Louisiana | 5,268 | 4,597,740 | 114.58 |
| Maine | 2,800 | 1,405,012 | 199.29 |
| Maryland | 11,023 | 6,263,220 | 176.00 |
| Massachusetts | 15,833 | 7,136,171 | 221.87 |
| Michigan | 14,709 | 10,140,459 | 145.05 |
| Minnesota | 9,311 | 5,793,151 | 160.72 |
| Mississippi | 5,997 | 2,943,045 | 203.77 |
| Missouri | 11,153 | 6,245,466 | 178.58 |
| Montana | 1,366 | 1,137,233 | 120.12 |
| Nebraska | 2,768 | 2,005,465 | 138.02 |
| Nevada | 3,074 | 3,267,467 | 94.08 |
| New Hampshire | 1,837 | 1,409,032 | 130.37 |
| New Jersey | 10,152 | 9,500,851 | 106.85 |
| New Mexico | 2,947 | 2,130,256 | 138.34 |
| New York | 26,402 | 19,867,248 | 132.89 |
| North Carolina | 11,675 | 11,046,024 | 105.69 |
| North Dakota | 1,090 | 796,568 | 136.84 |
| Ohio | 22,368 | 11,883,304 | 188.23 |
| Oklahoma | 3,467 | 4,095,393 | 84.66 |
| Oregon | 4,460 | 4,272,371 | 104.39 |
| Pennsylvania | 17,222 | 13,078,751 | 131.68 |
| Rhode Island | 2,747 | 1,112,308 | 246.96 |
| South Carolina | 4,956 | 5,478,831 | 90.46 |
| South Dakota | 1,452 | 924,669 | 157.03 |
| Tennessee | 16,035 | 7,227,750 | 221.85 |
| Texas | 38,689 | 31,290,831 | 123.64 |
| Utah | 2,667 | 3,503,613 | 76.12 |
| Vermont | 1,058 | 648,493 | 163.15 |
| Virginia | 13,495 | 8,811,195 | 153.16 |
| Washington | 5,945 | 7,958,180 | 74.70 |
| West Virginia | 2,859 | 1,769,979 | 161.53 |
| Wisconsin | 6,988 | 5,960,975 | 117.23 |
| Wyoming | 500 | 587,618 | 85.09 |
