Research Alert: October 31, 2024

Trends in the Health Workforce Supply in the Rural U.S.

This report describes trends in the supply and distribution of clinicians in primary care, behavioral health, and obstetrical care, as well as dentists, surgeons, community health workers, and home health aides, in the rural vs. urban U.S. workforce nationally and regionally. Researchers examined the availability of current and historical workforce data for professions important for rural communities. Researchers also discussed the relative advantages and disadvantages of using various health workforce data sources for rural health research, including the Area Health Resource File, National Provider Identification, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, the American Community Survey, and other single-profession data sources.

Key Findings:

• Nationally, the supply per 100,000 population of physicians overall, primary care physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, behavioral health clinicians (including psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric nurse practitioners, social workers, and counselors), obstetricians, advanced practice midwives, dentists, surgeons, and home health aides was lower in rural counties than urban counties.
• The supply of rural nurse practitioners and physician assistants quadrupled and tripled respectively in the past 20 years.
• More than half of all U.S. rural counties lacked an obstetrician (57.4%), and more than three-quarters lacked an advanced practice midwife (75.1%) or midwife (87.4%).
• Nationally, the ratio of dentists per 100,000 population in rural areas (32.1) was about 55% that of urban areas (59.4).

Additional Resources of Interest:

• More FORHP-funded research on Workforce
• More information about the WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
• More information from the Rural Health Information Hub's topic guide: Healthcare Workforce