Health professional shortage designations in Washington

The discipline a Washington recruiter will cite first is Primary Care, at 219 designated IDs.

Across the three disciplines, Washington totals 642 distinct designated IDs. That is 8.1 per 100,000 civilian residents.

Dental Health still belongs on the Washington note at 205 designated IDs. Population on July 1, 2025 is 7,953,014, and none of the cells are job openings.

Each discipline

Ranked table

Swipe the table sideways. The same figures are in the blocks above.

Takeaways

• In Washington, cite 219 designated IDs when the discipline is Primary Care.
• All three Washington disciplines sum to 642 distinct designated IDs.
• Per 100,000 civilian residents, Washington sits at 8.1.
• Dental Health is the low Washington count, 205 designated IDs.

For recruiters

• Treat the IDs as designations, not open jobs.
• Say the cells are designations, not vacancies.

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 Withdrawn and proposed rows are excluded.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 7,953,014 in Washington, 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. Washington has 642 distinct designated IDs across the three disciplines, which is 8.1 per 100,000 civilian residents. Areas are ordered by that per-resident count. Washington is 22 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