Tennessee has the most active nurse practitioners of any state per capita, while Hawaii has the fewest, according to a ranking from Kaiser Family Foundation.
The ranking is based on information KFF requested from Redi-Data on the number of active state-licensed nurse practitioners in the U.S. as of January. 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 278,577 active nurse practitioners in the U.S., up from 268,055 from January 2022.
Below are the states and Washington, D.C., ranked by the number of active nurse practitioners per capita.
1. Tennessee
NPs per capita: 163.36 per 100,000
NP total: 11,519
State population: 7,051,339
2. Florida
NPs per capita: 145.35
NP total: 32,332
State population: 22,244,823
3. Mississippi
NPs per capita: 141.22
NP total: 4,152
State population: 2,940,057
4. Massachusetts
NPs per capita: 140.33
NP total: 9,798
State population:6,981,974
5. Connecticut
NPs per capita: 134.88
NP total: 4,891
State population: 3,626,205
6. Maine
NPs per capita: 130.51
NP total: 1,808
State population:1,385,340
7. Kentucky
NPs per capita: 128.03
NP total: 5,777
State population:4,512,310
8. Rhode Island
NPs per capita: 120.32
NP total: 1,316
State population:1,093,734
9. Vermont
NPs per capita: 114.21
NP total: 739
State population: 647,064
10. Missouri
NPs per capita: 112.72
NP total: 647,064
State population: 6,177,957
11. South Dakota
NPs per capita: 111.56
NP total: 1,015
State population: 909,824
12. Nebraska
NPs per capita: 110.93
NP total: 2,183
State population: 1,967,923
13. Maryland
NPs per capita: 110.35
NP total: 6,803
State population: 6,164,660
14. West Virginia
NPs per capita: 110.13
NP total: 1,955
State population: 1,775,156
15. Ohio
NPs per capita: 109.49
NP total: 12,872
State population: 11,756,058
16. Virginia
NPs per capita: 103.78
NP total: 9,012
State population: 8,683,619
17. New Jersey
NPs per capita: 103.19
NP total: 9,557
State population: 9,261,699
18. Alaska
NPs per capita: 102.37
NP total: 751
State population: 733,583
19. District of Columbia
NPs per capita: 101.82
NP total: 684
State population: 671,803
20. Iowa
NPs per capita: 97.17
NP total: 3,110
State population: 3,200,517
21. Georgia
NPs per capita: 95.48
NP total: 10,420
State population: 10,912,876
22. Alabama
NPs per capita: 94.3
NP total: 4,785
State population: 5,074,296
23. Arkansas
NPs per capita: 93.9
NP total: 2,860
State population: 3,045,637
24. Montana
NPs per capita: 92.71
NP total: 1,041
State population: 1,122,867
25. New Hampshire
NPs per capita: 88.44
NP total: 1,234
State population: 1,395,231
26. Minnesota
NPs per capita: 86.98
NP total: 4,973
State population: 5,717,184
27. Michigan
NPs per capita: 83.49
NP total: 8,377
State population: 10,034,113
28. New Mexico
NPs per capita: 83.37
NP total: 1,762
State population: 2,113,344
29. Colorado
NPs per capita: 83.17
NP total: 4,857
State population: 5,839,926
30. North Dakota
NPs per capita: 79.56
NP total: 620
State population: 779,261
31. Idaho
NPs per capita: 74.73
NP total: 1,449
State population: 1,939,033
32. Delaware
NPs per capita: 74.43
NP total: 758
State population: 1,018,396
33. Texas
NPs per capita: 72.5
NP total: 21,770
State population: 30,029,572
34. Illinois
NPs per capita: 72.17
NP total: 9,080
State population: 12,582,032
35. Kansas
NPs per capita: 70.03
NP total: 2,057
State population: 2,937,150
36. Nevada
NPs per capita: 68.92
NP total: 2,190
State population: 3,177,772
37. Oklahoma
NPs per capita: 66.15
NP total: 2,659
State population: 4,019,800
38. California
NPs per capita: 65.59
NP total: 25,601
State population: 39,029,342
39. Oregon
NPs per capita: 61.22
NP total: 2,596
State population: 4,240,137
40. Pennsylvania
NPs per capita: 60.87
NP total: 7,896
State population: 12,972,008
41. New York
NPs per capita: 55.89
NP total: 10,997
State population: 19,677,151
42. Indiana
NPs per capita: 50.39
NP total: 3,443
State population: 6,833,037
43. Arizona
NPs per capita: 50.18
NP total: 3,693
State population: 7,359,197
44. Wisconsin
NPs per capita: 47.99
NP total: 2,828
State population: 5,892,539
45. Louisiana
NPs per capita: 45.92
NP total: 2,108
State population: 4,590,241
46. Wyoming
NPs per capita: 45.07
NP total: 262
State population: 581,381
47. North Carolina
NPs per capita: 42.79
NP total: 4,578
State population: 10,698,973
48. Washington
NPs per capita: 38.18
NP total: 2,973
State population: 7,785,786
49. Utah
NPs per capita: 37.24
NP total: 1,259
State population: 3,380,800
50. South Carolina
NPs per capita: 34.66
NP total: 1,831
State population: 5,282,634
51. Hawaii
NPs per capita: 26.52
NP total: 382
State population: 1,440,196