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Podiatrist: how many are there, and how many are in private practice?

Podiatrists are state-licensed doctors of podiatric medicine who diagnose and treat foot diseases and deformities and may provide medical, surgical, and other operative care within their licenses. This page counts 17,024 active NPI records with Podiatrist (213E00000X) as the primary NUCC taxonomy and summarizes their geographic distribution, NPPES sole-proprietor status, and recent NPI enumeration years.

National totals

Active NPI records17,024
Registered sole proprietors4,243 (24.9%)
NUCC taxonomy code213E00000X
GroupingPodiatric Medicine & Surgery Service Providers

What this specialty covers

A podiatrist is a person qualified by a Doctor of Podiatric Medicine (D.P.M.) degree, licensed by the state, and practicing within the scope of that license. Podiatrists diagnose and treat foot diseases and deformities. They perform medical, surgical and other operative procedures, prescribe corrective devices and prescribe and administer drugs and physical therapy.

Reading the sole-proprietor share

For podiatrists, the 24.9% sole-proprietor share means that 4,243 of these NPPES records are flagged as sole proprietors, which can help describe how records are classified in this specialty. The flag is self-reported and is an imperfect proxy for private practice: it does not by itself show employment arrangement, ownership, clinical workload, or whether a podiatrist works independently.

By state

StateActive NPIsSole proprietorsShare
New York1,94963732.7%
California1,47548332.7%
Florida1,37734324.9%
Pennsylvania1,06630228.3%
Illinois97522423.0%
Ohio97121422.0%
Texas97021422.1%
New Jersey92125627.8%
Michigan77618123.3%
Maryland4298620.0%
Georgia4246515.3%
Massachusetts40211628.9%
Arizona3727921.2%
Virginia3036019.8%
Indiana2896823.5%
Washington2856021.1%
North Carolina2824817.0%
Wisconsin2703713.7%
Connecticut2676925.8%
Missouri2364619.5%
Tennessee2076029.0%
Minnesota1742212.6%
South Carolina1743017.2%
Iowa1723520.3%
Utah1703922.9%
Colorado1583824.1%
Alabama1572314.6%
Oregon1564428.2%
Kentucky1522818.4%
Louisiana1263225.4%
Oklahoma1132017.7%
Nevada1062321.7%
Kansas952122.1%
Arkansas912224.2%
New Mexico892022.5%
West Virginia862427.9%
Delaware802025.0%
Rhode Island791417.7%
Mississippi782228.2%
Idaho641218.8%
New Hampshire62<11not reported
Nebraska601220.0%
Maine571424.6%
District of Columbia48<11not reported
Hawaii38<11not reported
North Dakota32<11not reported
South Dakota30<11not reported
Vermont29<11not reported
Montana281139.3%
Wyoming14<11not reported
Alaska12<11not reported

New NPI registrations by year

Year first enumeratedNPIs
2016325
2017357
2018365
2019326
2020337
2021297
2022266
2023202
2024199
2025222

Counts reflect the year each NPI was first issued, among records still active today. The final year is partial: this data covers through 2026-01-11.

Data notes

Source: CMS National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES) Data Dissemination file, FOIA-disclosable public data under CMS-6060-N. Aggregated by Hero EMR on 2026-08-03; deactivated NPIs excluded; specialty assigned from the primary taxonomy code (NUCC 25.1). Counts below 11 are suppressed. Individual providers are never published. All provider data pages.

Common questions

How many podiatrists are there in the United States?

There are 17,024 active NPI records nationally with Podiatrist as their primary taxonomy. This is an NPI-based count, not a direct count of every practicing individual.

How many podiatrists are in private practice?

NPPES flags 4,243 records, or 24.9%, as sole proprietors. This is an imperfect proxy for private practice because the field is self-reported.

Which states have the most podiatrists?

The largest state counts are New York (1,949), California (1,475), Florida (1,377), Pennsylvania (1,066), and Illinois (975).

How many podiatrist NPIs were first enumerated in recent years?

NPIs first enumerated in the available full years totaled 202 in 2023, 199 in 2024, and 222 in 2025. These are first-enumeration counts, not necessarily counts of newly licensed podiatrists.

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