Doctors in California: 86,536 enrolled in Medicare
California has 86,536 MD and DO clinicians enrolled in Medicare in the CMS file dated Aug 18, 2026: 219 per 100,000 residents, 23rd of 51 (the states and DC), against 214 for the US. The most are in Los Angeles, 6,967 in our physician files. Per capita California is strongest in preventive medicine physicians (3rd, 0.3 per 100,000), general practice physicians (4th, 1.7 per 100,000) and nuclear medicine physicians (4th, 0.3 per 100,000).
By Ryan Doyle, founder of Doctor Email List. Published Oct 5, 2026.
California physicians by specialty
Every specialty with at least one clinician in California, largest first. Rank is among the states and DC (51 in all) by clinicians per 100,000 residents. Where we have a state page or a list for the specialty, the name links to it.
| Specialty | California | Per 100,000 | Rank | US per 100,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nurse Practitioners | 15,349 | 38.9 | 51st | 83.7 |
| Internal Medicine Physicians | 14,461 | 36.7 | 9th | 30.9 |
| Family Physicians | 12,242 | 31.0 | 28th | 28.7 |
| Physician Assistants | 9,659 | 24.5 | 47th | 40.8 |
| Emergency Physicians | 5,749 | 14.6 | 23rd | 13.5 |
| Anesthesiologists | 5,745 | 14.6 | 16th | 13.3 |
| Radiologists | 4,442 | 11.3 | 18th | 11.1 |
| Psychiatrists | 4,020 | 10.2 | 11th | 8.4 |
| Optometrists | 3,722 | 9.4 | 42nd | 10.9 |
| OB/GYNs | 3,579 | 9.1 | 35th | 10.1 |
| Chiropractors | 3,112 | 7.9 | 43rd | 11.8 |
| Cardiologists | 2,663 | 6.8 | 40th | 8.7 |
| Orthopedic Surgeons | 2,566 | 6.5 | 45th | 7.4 |
| Hospitalists | 2,524 | 6.4 | 32nd | 7.1 |
| Ophthalmologists | 2,469 | 6.3 | 9th | 5.3 |
| General Surgeons | 2,329 | 5.9 | 46th | 6.9 |
| Neurologists | 2,059 | 5.2 | 24th | 5.5 |
| Dermatologists | 1,882 | 4.8 | 8th | 4.0 |
| Oncologists | 1,793 | 4.5 | 27th | 5.0 |
| Podiatrists | 1,789 | 4.5 | 17th | 4.7 |
| Gastroenterologists | 1,614 | 4.1 | 28th | 4.7 |
| Pathologists | 1,354 | 3.4 | 31st | 3.8 |
| Pediatricians | 1,318 | 3.3 | 33rd | 3.8 |
| ENTs | 1,209 | 3.1 | 21st | 2.9 |
| Urologists | 1,156 | 2.9 | 32nd | 3.0 |
| Nephrologists | 1,090 | 2.8 | 25th | 2.9 |
| Pulmonologists | 1,027 | 2.6 | 42nd | 3.4 |
| Physiatrists | 954 | 2.4 | 23rd | 2.7 |
| Endocrinologists | 747 | 1.9 | 21st | 2.1 |
| Infectious Disease Physicians | 733 | 1.9 | 28th | 2.1 |
| Critical care physicians | 679 | 1.7 | 24th | 1.8 |
| General practice physicians | 654 | 1.7 | 4th | 1.2 |
| Rheumatologists | 622 | 1.6 | 21st | 1.6 |
| Neurosurgeons | 588 | 1.5 | 40th | 1.7 |
| Plastic Surgeons | 570 | 1.4 | 16th | 1.4 |
| Radiation Oncologists | 556 | 1.4 | 34th | 1.6 |
| Pain Management Physicians | 465 | 1.2 | 31st | 1.4 |
| Vascular Surgeons | 450 | 1.1 | 28th | 1.2 |
| Allergists | 442 | 1.1 | 15th | 1.1 |
| Cardiothoracic Surgeons | 399 | 1.0 | 35th | 1.2 |
| Hospice and palliative care physicians | 285 | 0.7 | 19th | 0.7 |
| Geriatric medicine physicians | 242 | 0.6 | 20th | 0.6 |
| Colorectal surgeons | 181 | 0.5 | 29th | 0.5 |
| Sports medicine physicians | 172 | 0.4 | 43rd | 0.7 |
| Nuclear medicine physicians | 133 | 0.3 | 4th | 0.2 |
| Sleep medicine physicians | 129 | 0.3 | 28th | 0.3 |
| Osteopathic manipulative medicine physicians | 126 | 0.3 | 22nd | 0.3 |
| Hematologists | 124 | 0.3 | 19th | 0.3 |
| Preventive medicine physicians | 119 | 0.3 | 3rd | 0.2 |
| Addiction medicine physicians | 57 | 0.1 | 25th | 0.2 |
| Micrographic dermatologic surgeons | 41 | 0.1 | 40th | 0.2 |
Counts are one row per NPI under the clinician's primary Medicare specialty, from the CMS file dated Aug 18, 2026. Rates use the Census Bureau's July 2024 estimate for California. Nurse practitioners, physician assistants, chiropractors and optometrists have their own files and are not in the MD and DO total. California ranks lowest per capita in nurse practitioners (51st, 38.9 per 100,000) and physician assistants (47th, 24.5 per 100,000).
Where California physicians practice
In the 81,655 clinicians California has across the physician specialty files we sell, counted once each, 40% are women and 32% offer telehealth. The median graduation year is 2005. These are the cities with the most of them.
| City | Clinicians | Share of California |
|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | 6,967 | 8.5% |
| San Francisco | 4,550 | 5.6% |
| San Diego | 3,442 | 4.2% |
| Sacramento | 2,772 | 3.4% |
| San Jose | 1,664 | 2% |
Largest practice groups in California
Groups ranked by the number of California clinicians the CMS file lists under them. 80% of California physicians with a group on file are in a group of 50 or more listed clinicians, against 80% across the US.
| Practice or health system, as CMS prints it | California clinicians listed |
|---|---|
| Permanente Medical Group Inc | 8,292 |
| Southern California Permanente Medical Group | 7,661 |
| Sutter Bay Medical Foundation | 2,421 |
| Regents of the University of California | 2,024 |
| Stanford Health Care | 1,965 |
A health system can appear under more than one legal name, so a group here may be part of a larger one.
California by specialty
Questions about California doctors
86,536 MD and DO clinicians in California are enrolled in Medicare in the CMS file dated Aug 18, 2026, one per NPI, in the state of their main practice location. That is 219 per 100,000 residents, 23rd of 51 among the states and DC. Physicians who bill no Medicare patients are not in the file.
Nurse Practitioners are the largest group in California, with 15,349, then internal medicine physicians with 14,461. Nurse practitioners and physician assistants are counted in their own files and are not in the MD and DO total.
We sell national lists, one CSV per specialty for $295, or every specialty in one file for $995. We don't sell a state-only file. City, state and ZIP are on nearly every row, so keeping the California rows is one filter in any spreadsheet.
States with a similar count per capita
Specialty email lists
National CSVs, one per specialty. City, state and ZIP are on the rows, so any state is one filter away.