The California Mental Health Workforce
California has 229,073 active mental-health providers registered at practice addresses in the state, or 582.1 per 100,000 residents. That ranks 12 of 51 nationally, against a US average of 433.5.
229,073
active providers
582.1
per 100,000 residents
#12
of 51 jurisdictions by density
Key findings
- California registers 582.1 active providers per 100,000 residents. That ranks 12 of 51 jurisdictions, above the national 433.5. #
- San Francisco County has the state's highest registered density (1310.8 per 100k). #
- Counselors are the largest group at 36.3% of California's registered workforce, compared with 43.9% nationally. #
- 11,408 providers with a California practice address first entered the NPI registry in 2025, versus 11,533 in 2019. These are registry entries, not licenses issued. #
- 73% of California providers share a registered practice location with six or more in-scope providers. #
Providers per 100,000 by county
Providers are allocated to counties from their practice ZIP code. The same values appear in the table.
| County | Population | Providers | Per 100k |
|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles County | 9,694,934 | 59,350 | 612.2 |
| San Diego County | 3,282,248 | 21,069 | 641.9 |
| Orange County | 3,149,507 | 15,978 | 507.3 |
| Alameda County | 1,636,630 | 14,852 | 907.5 |
| San Francisco County | 826,079 | 10,829 | 1310.8 |
| Santa Clara County | 1,914,391 | 10,501 | 548.5 |
| Sacramento County | 1,618,460 | 9,455 | 584.2 |
| Riverside County | 2,544,916 | 9,192 | 361.2 |
| San Bernardino County | 2,224,091 | 9,102 | 409.2 |
| Fresno County | 1,035,456 | 6,151 | 594 |
| Contra Costa County | 1,170,070 | 5,964 | 509.7 |
| Ventura County | 830,851 | 4,890 | 588.6 |
| San Mateo County | 743,568 | 4,193 | 563.8 |
| Santa Barbara County | 442,065 | 3,464 | 783.5 |
| Sonoma County | 486,444 | 3,400 | 699 |
| Kern County | 927,068 | 3,070 | 331.2 |
| San Joaquin County | 823,815 | 2,898 | 351.8 |
| Santa Cruz County | 258,852 | 2,807 | 1084.6 |
| Marin County | 253,694 | 2,805 | 1105.7 |
| Solano County | 455,376 | 2,530 | 555.5 |
| Monterey County | 433,729 | 2,468 | 569 |
| San Luis Obispo County | 282,367 | 2,443 | 865 |
| Butte County | 209,211 | 2,188 | 1045.8 |
| Placer County | 442,081 | 2,181 | 493.5 |
| Stanislaus County | 557,719 | 2,146 | 384.8 |
| Tulare County | 485,146 | 2,060 | 424.5 |
| Shasta County | 181,648 | 1,314 | 723.3 |
| Nevada County | 101,911 | 1,297 | 1273 |
| Yolo County | 224,410 | 1,266 | 564.2 |
| Humboldt County | 131,647 | 1,094 | 831 |
| Napa County | 132,949 | 1,041 | 782.8 |
| El Dorado County | 192,323 | 1,031 | 536.1 |
| Merced County | 297,260 | 865 | 291 |
| Mendocino County | 88,122 | 689 | 781.4 |
| Kings County | 154,327 | 493 | 319.3 |
| Imperial County | 181,411 | 478 | 263.4 |
| Madera County | 167,927 | 465 | 276.7 |
| Sutter County | 98,787 | 410 | 415.4 |
| Lake County | 67,772 | 321 | 474.2 |
| Yuba County | 88,691 | 307 | 345.9 |
| Siskiyou County | 42,013 | 280 | 666.4 |
| Tehama County | 64,665 | 227 | 350.5 |
| Del Norte County | 26,410 | 166 | 628.5 |
| Tuolumne County | 53,160 | 161 | 303.4 |
| Amador County | 41,876 | 153 | 365.3 |
| Calaveras County | 46,605 | 135 | 289.9 |
| San Benito County | 70,082 | 127 | 180.8 |
| Inyo County | 18,158 | 119 | 656.9 |
| Lassen County | 28,117 | 102 | 363.3 |
| Glenn County | 28,141 | 94 | 332.4 |
| Mariposa County | 16,918 | 80 | 473.9 |
| Plumas County | 18,583 | 77 | 413.6 |
| Colusa County | 21,836 | 64 | 293.1 |
| Trinity County | 15,720 | 63 | 400.8 |
| Modoc County | 8,426 | 37 | 439.1 |
| Mono County | 12,505 | 34 | 269.6 |
| Sierra County | 3,098 | 11 | 339.9 |
| Alpine County | 1,043 | 8 | 756.4 |
Provider-type mix vs the national picture
Each provider counts once under their primary taxonomy; the US share is printed beside each California figure for comparison.
When California's providers entered the registry
This chart shows active providers by the year they entered the NPI registry. Registry entry is not licensure. Clinicians typically register when they start billing, so this measures registrations, not the workforce itself. 2026 is a partial year.
Practice-location size
This shows the share of Californiaproviders at single- and multi-provider practice locations, grouped by normalized practice address. It's only a proxy, so see the limitations below.
Get the numbers
County-level figures for all states (including California) are in the county CSV; state totals and mix are in their own files. Everything is CC BY 4.0, so cite certification.app, "US Mental Health Workforce" (June 2026 NPPES snapshot).
Use this chart
<a href="https://www.certification.app/data/mental-health-workforce"><img src="https://www.certification.app/data/mental-health-workforce/charts/ca-county-density.svg" alt="California mental health providers per 100,000 residents by county" width="100%" /></a> <p style="font-size:12px">"California mental health providers per 100k by county, June 2026 snapshot" by <a href="https://www.certification.app/data/mental-health-workforce">certification.app</a>, CC BY 4.0</p>
Reading these numbers
Counts are NPPES registrations at Californiapractice addresses. They are headcounts, not FTEs or license tallies. Telehealth and multi-state practice don't show up, a self-designated taxonomy isn't license verification, and the registry lags behind moves and retirements. The methodology page has the details.