certification.app/workforce data/Iowa
June 2026 snapshot · published August 2026

The Iowa Mental Health Workforce

Iowa has 9,423 active mental-health providers registered at practice addresses in the state, or 291 per 100,000 residents. That ranks 43 of 51 nationally, against a US average of 433.5.

9,423

active providers

291

per 100,000 residents

#43

of 51 jurisdictions by density

Key findings

  • Iowa registers 291 active providers per 100,000 residents. That ranks 43 of 51 jurisdictions, below the national 433.5. #
  • Clay County has the state's highest registered density (677.8 per 100k); 8 of Iowa's 99 counties have fewer than 3 registered providers. #
  • Counselors are the largest group at 42.1% of Iowa's registered workforce (US: 43.9%). #
  • 617 providers with a Iowa practice address first entered the NPI registry in 2025, versus 413 in 2019. These are registry entries, not licenses issued. #
  • 62% of Iowa 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. For 8 counties with under 3 allocated providers or under 1,000 residents, we show the count but no per-100k rate, because numbers that small don't make a reliable rate. The same values appear in the table.

providers / 100k24.3–68.468.4–113113–177.3177.3–273.3273.3+no rate published
CountyPopulationProvidersPer 100k
Polk County516,5462,416467.7
Johnson County160,0441,082675.9
Linn County232,028934402.4
Scott County175,259510291
Black Hawk County131,532439333.7
Woodbury County106,649375351.5
Story County101,291286282.5
Dubuque County99,381270271.8
Pottawattamie County92,996263283.1
Dallas County118,457220186.1
Cerro Gordo County42,372197464.7
Webster County36,838139377.4
Des Moines County38,077131343.6
Marshall County39,890113283.1
Clinton County46,002110239.3
Clay County16,202110677.8
Wapello County35,21096271.6
Sioux County36,77485231.9
Winneshiek County19,73382417.5
Marion County34,19269201.1
Bremer County25,29666260.5
Jasper County38,15364168.5
Plymouth County25,69763245.8
Cass County12,96060463.1
Muscatine County41,85357136.1
Page County14,85655367.2
Carroll County20,30354264.9
Jefferson County15,29149321.3
Poweshiek County18,36849265.1
Lee County32,30645139.3
Mahaska County21,88040180.7
Buchanan County20,88337178.9
Jones County21,25337173.9
Boone County26,79934126.9
Delaware County17,67432181.9
Jackson County19,28831160.4
Dickinson County18,07730167.7
Henry County19,34930156
Washington County22,66729127.1
Union County11,82928235.8
Shelby County11,68925217.7
Emmet County9,10725273.3
Wright County12,80124187.3
Iowa County16,50424143.8
Decatur County7,65522287.4
Warren County57,3312238.2
Buena Vista County20,44921103.4
Cherokee County11,36921184.9
Fayette County19,04721109.4
Appanoose County12,07719155.6
Mills County14,79319126.3
Hamilton County14,94417114
Harrison County14,62316109
Palo Alto County8,89916177.3
Madison County17,2701588.1
Benton County26,0041455.1
Cedar County18,3591371.2
Greene County8,65813149.9
Montgomery County10,00213129.5
Kossuth County14,3221178.6
Crawford County16,2371167.7
Hardin County16,4551166.2
Butler County14,0491176.2
Lucas County8,84710113
O'Brien County14,2201068.4
Hancock County10,528989.1
Louisa County10,416987.2
Clarke County9,574994
Humboldt County9,409992.8
Clayton County16,845950.9
Grundy County12,361866.5
Fremont County6,5228125
Floyd County14,901854.5
Chickasaw County11,663869.6
Sac County9,525884.3
Tama County16,796847.8
Monona County8,539893.8
Allamakee County14,238750.5
Calhoun County9,562773.4
Monroe County7,406687
Guthrie County10,782655.4
Adams County3,6175142.5
Howard County9,415552.5
Adair County7,403459.5
Audubon County5,509476.8
Franklin County9,868441.5
Wayne County6,738459.4
Keokuk County9,797332.4
Davis County9,230332.7
Lyon County12,354324.3
Osceola County5,980350.2
Van Buren County7,1313n/a
Taylor County5,8353n/a
Winnebago County10,2512n/a
Ringgold County4,6421n/a
Mitchell County10,6501n/a
Ida County6,7771n/a
Pocahontas County6,8191n/a
Worth County7,3380n/a

Provider-type mix vs the national picture

Each provider counts once under their primary taxonomy; the US share is printed beside each Iowa figure for comparison.

Counselors42.1% · 3,970 · US 43.9%
Social workers34.8% · 3,278 · US 30.4%
Psychiatric NPs6.8% · 638 · US 4.0%
Psychologists6.5% · 616 · US 10.2%
Psychiatrists5.1% · 484 · US 4.6%
Marriage & family therapists4.6% · 437 · US 6.8%

When Iowa'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.

23520102014201820226172472026

Practice-location size

Share of Iowa providers at single- vs multi-provider practice locations, by normalized practice address. This is a proxy; see the limitations below.

Only provider at their location16.6% · 1,568
2–5 providers at the location21.2% · 1,995
6+ providers at the location62.2% · 5,859
Location unknown0.0% · 1

Get the numbers

County-level figures for all states (including Iowa) 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).

county-density.csv ↓state-density.csv ↓all downloads →

Use this chart

Download SVGDownload PNG
<a href="https://www.certification.app/data/mental-health-workforce"><img src="https://www.certification.app/data/mental-health-workforce/charts/ia-county-density.svg" alt="Iowa mental health providers per 100,000 residents by county" width="100%" /></a>
<p style="font-size:12px">"Iowa 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 Iowa 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.

CE requirements for Iowa clinicians

Iowa LPC CE requirements →Iowa LMFT CE requirements →Iowa LCSW CE requirements →Iowa Psychologist CE requirements →
← #42 Mississippi (295.4)#43 Iowa (291)#44 South Carolina (283.1) →
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