Washington, D.C., has the highest number of active physicians per 100,000 residents, according to the latest Association of American Medical Colleges State Physician Workforce Data Report. The state with the most active physicians per resident is Massachusetts, while Idaho is the state with the least.
The report, released in January 2022, is based on the American Medical Association Physician Masterfile, a nearly complete data set of U.S physicians and medical students, as well as 2019 population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Researchers also examined AAMC datasets as of July 2021; 2019-2020 American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine enrollment data; and the 2021 National GME Census, which is conducted by the AAMC and the AMA.
Active physician per capita data is as of Dec. 31, 2020, and it is compared to the 2019 Census.
For the purposes of the report, "active physicians" are those licensed by a state, provided they are working at least 20 hours weekly, and include those working in direct patient care, administration, medical teaching, research or other nonpatient care activities.
| State | Total Population | Total Active Physicians | Rate per 100,000 residents |
| District of Columbia | 705,749 | 6,147 | 871 |
| Massachusetts | 6,892,503 | 32,116 | 466 |
| Maryland | 6,045,680 | 23,791 | 393.5 |
| New York | 19,453,561 | 75,749 | 389.4 |
| Vermont | 623,989 | 2,410 | 386.2 |
| Rhode Island | 1,059,361 | 4,063 | 383.5 |
| Connecticut | 3,565,287 | 12,977 | 364 |
| Maine | 1,344,212 | 4,459 | 331.7 |
| Pennsylvania | 12,801,989 | 42,051 | 328.5 |
| New Hampshire | 1,359,711 | 4,391 | 322.9 |
| Hawaii | 1,415,872 | 4,557 | 321.9 |
| New Jersey | 8,882,190 | 27,832 | 313.3 |
| Minnesota | 5,639,632 | 17,617 | 312.4 |
| Oregon | 4,217,737 | 13,127 | 311.2 |
| Ohio | 11,689,100 | 35,333 | 302.3 |
| Michigan | 9,986,857 | 30,040 | 300.8 |
| Missouri | 6,137,428 | 18,297 | 298.1 |
| Colorado | 5,758,736 | 16,956 | 294.4 |
| Illinois | 12,671,821 | 37,122 | 292.9 |
| Delaware | 973,764 | 2,850 | 292.7 |
| California | 39,512,223 | 113,718 | 287.8 |
| Alaska | 731,545 | 2,101 | 287.2 |
| Washington | 7,614,893 | 21,731 | 285.4 |
| Wisconsin | 5,822,434 | 15,975 | 274.4 |
| West Virginia | 1,792,147 | 4,914 | 274.2 |
| Florida | 21,477,737 | 58,822 | 273.9 |
| Louisiana | 4,648,794 | 12,557 | 270.1 |
| Virginia | 8,535,519 | 22,874 | 268 |
| North Carolina | 10,488,084 | 27,650 | 263.6 |
| Tennessee | 6,829,174 | 17,687 | 259 |
| Montana | 1,068,778 | 2,750 | 257.3 |
| Arizona | 7,278,717 | 18,343 | 252 |
| New Mexico | 2,096,829 | 5,269 | 251.3 |
| South Dakota | 884,659 | 2,214 | 250.3 |
| Nebraska | 1,934,408 | 4,820 | 249.2 |
| North Dakota | 762,062 | 1,826 | 239.6 |
| South Carolina | 5,148,714 | 12,197 | 236.9 |
| Indiana | 6,732,219 | 15,918 | 236.4 |
| Georgia | 10,617,423 | 25,072 | 236.1 |
| Kansas | 2,913,314 | 6,874 | 236 |
| Kentucky | 4,467,673 | 10,528 | 235.6 |
| Texas | 28,995,881 | 67,182 | 231.7 |
| Utah | 3,205,958 | 7,198 | 224.5 |
| Alabama | 4,903,185 | 10,983 | 224 |
| Iowa | 3,155,070 | 7,056 | 223.6 |
| Nevada | 3,080,156 | 6,731 | 218.5 |
| Arkansas | 3,017,804 | 6,500 | 215.4 |
| Wyoming | 578,759 | 1,225 | 211.7 |
| Oklahoma | 3,956,971 | 8,293 | 209.6 |
| Mississippi | 2,976,149 | 5,857 | 196.8 |
| Idaho | 1,787,065 | 3,504 | 196.1 |