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 (US: 43.9%). #
- 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
Active providers by NPI registry-entry year. 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
Share of California providers at single- vs multi-provider practice locations, by normalized practice address. This is a proxy; 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 California practice addresses. They are headcounts, not FTEs or license tallies. Telehealth and multi-state practice are invisible; taxonomy self-designation is not license verification; the registry lags moves and retirements. Details: methodology.