Health professional shortage designations in Montana

A slide added the designation IDs together and called the sum the number of missing clinicians.

Primary care has 125 designated IDs, 11.0 per 100,000 residents. Mental health has 109, which is 9.5 per 100,000. Dental health has 105, which is 9.2 per 100,000. The disciplines are in the same neighborhood. A plan that funds only the top row ignores two designation files of almost the same size.

Across the three files Montana has 339 distinct designated IDs, 29.7 per 100,000 civilian residents. The civilian population used here is 1,141,363. Do not add populations out of the designation file, because the areas overlap. An ID is not a job opening.

Ranked table

Takeaways

• The files were last modified 2026-09-30, and withdrawn or proposed rows are excluded.
• One ID can carry more than one rural status, so this table does not split urban and rural.
• Montana is 2 of 51 when areas are ordered by designations per resident.
• Component rows that repeat an ID are counted once. Do not inflate the slide by counting pieces of the same area.

For recruiters

• Brief three disciplines, or say you are only briefing one.
• Keep the per-resident figure next to the ID count so a raw total does not become a headcount of vacancies.

FAQ

Are these posted wages or open jobs?

No. The table is a government survey or a designation file.

What should a recruiter do first?

Follow the recruiter note on this page.

Source: HRSA Health Professional Shortage Area detail files (primary care, dental, mental health), 2026-09-30.

Related hiring pages

Methodology

Counts are distinct HPSA IDs with status Designated in the HRSA primary-care, dental, and mental-health detail files, last modified 2026-09-30. Component rows that repeat an ID are counted once. Withdrawn and proposed rows are excluded. Population is not summed from the HPSA file, because shortage areas overlap. The per-resident count uses Census civilian population on July 1, 2025, which is 1,141,363 in Montana, divided into the ID count per 100,000 residents. Rural-status fields are not added in this table, because one ID can carry more than one rural status. Montana has 339 distinct designated IDs across the three disciplines, which is 29.7 per 100,000 civilian residents. Areas are ordered by that per-resident count. Montana is 2 of 51.

Sources

• HRSA Health Professional Shortage Area detail files (primary care, dental, mental health) · 2026-09-30
• Census Bureau Population Estimates Program, civilian population by age and sex · July 1, 2025