Doctors in North Carolina: 22,855 enrolled in Medicare
North Carolina has 22,855 MD and DO clinicians enrolled in Medicare in the CMS file dated Aug 18, 2026: 207 per 100,000 residents, 29th of 51 (the states and DC), against 214 for the US. The most are in Charlotte, 2,433 in our physician files.
By Ryan Doyle, founder of Doctor Email List. Published Oct 5, 2026.
North Carolina physicians by specialty
Every specialty with at least one clinician in North Carolina, 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 | North Carolina | Per 100,000 | Rank | US per 100,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nurse Practitioners | 9,631 | 87.2 | 32nd | 83.7 |
| Physician Assistants | 7,640 | 69.2 | 6th | 40.8 |
| Family Physicians | 3,112 | 28.2 | 33rd | 28.7 |
| Internal Medicine Physicians | 2,879 | 26.1 | 29th | 30.9 |
| Emergency Physicians | 1,460 | 13.2 | 31st | 13.5 |
| OB/GYNs | 1,260 | 11.4 | 13th | 10.1 |
| Radiologists | 1,163 | 10.5 | 28th | 11.1 |
| Anesthesiologists | 1,154 | 10.4 | 38th | 13.3 |
| Optometrists | 1,118 | 10.1 | 38th | 10.9 |
| Chiropractors | 1,077 | 9.8 | 35th | 11.8 |
| Hospitalists | 1,059 | 9.6 | 15th | 7.1 |
| Cardiologists | 934 | 8.5 | 20th | 8.7 |
| Orthopedic Surgeons | 859 | 7.8 | 24th | 7.4 |
| General Surgeons | 849 | 7.7 | 20th | 6.9 |
| Psychiatrists | 838 | 7.6 | 28th | 8.4 |
| Neurologists | 602 | 5.4 | 21st | 5.5 |
| Oncologists | 598 | 5.4 | 14th | 5.0 |
| Ophthalmologists | 563 | 5.1 | 22nd | 5.3 |
| Gastroenterologists | 521 | 4.7 | 17th | 4.7 |
| Pediatricians | 493 | 4.5 | 17th | 3.8 |
| Dermatologists | 426 | 3.9 | 21st | 4.0 |
| Pathologists | 395 | 3.6 | 27th | 3.8 |
| Pulmonologists | 386 | 3.5 | 21st | 3.4 |
| Urologists | 363 | 3.3 | 17th | 3.0 |
| Podiatrists | 343 | 3.1 | 42nd | 4.7 |
| ENTs | 331 | 3.0 | 23rd | 2.9 |
| Nephrologists | 330 | 3.0 | 20th | 2.9 |
| Physiatrists | 258 | 2.3 | 25th | 2.7 |
| Infectious Disease Physicians | 235 | 2.1 | 23rd | 2.1 |
| Endocrinologists | 209 | 1.9 | 22nd | 2.1 |
| Radiation Oncologists | 189 | 1.7 | 19th | 1.6 |
| Rheumatologists | 173 | 1.6 | 23rd | 1.6 |
| Neurosurgeons | 156 | 1.4 | 42nd | 1.7 |
| Critical care physicians | 135 | 1.2 | 36th | 1.8 |
| Vascular Surgeons | 129 | 1.2 | 25th | 1.2 |
| Plastic Surgeons | 122 | 1.1 | 36th | 1.4 |
| Allergists | 113 | 1.0 | 20th | 1.1 |
| Pain Management Physicians | 112 | 1.0 | 36th | 1.4 |
| Cardiothoracic Surgeons | 108 | 1.0 | 40th | 1.2 |
| Sports medicine physicians | 92 | 0.8 | 18th | 0.7 |
| Geriatric medicine physicians | 91 | 0.8 | 14th | 0.6 |
| Hospice and palliative care physicians | 68 | 0.6 | 25th | 0.7 |
| General practice physicians | 62 | 0.6 | 41st | 1.2 |
| Hematologists | 45 | 0.4 | 14th | 0.3 |
| Micrographic dermatologic surgeons | 33 | 0.3 | 4th | 0.2 |
| Colorectal surgeons | 24 | 0.2 | 47th | 0.5 |
| Sleep medicine physicians | 24 | 0.2 | 37th | 0.3 |
| Addiction medicine physicians | 13 | 0.1 | 30th | 0.2 |
| Osteopathic manipulative medicine physicians | 12 | 0.1 | 41st | 0.3 |
| Preventive medicine physicians | 8 | 0.1 | 42nd | 0.2 |
| Nuclear medicine physicians | 4 | 0.0 | 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 North Carolina. Nurse practitioners, physician assistants, chiropractors and optometrists have their own files and are not in the MD and DO total.
Where North Carolina physicians practice
In the 21,251 clinicians North Carolina has across the physician specialty files we sell, counted once each, 37% are women and 24% offer telehealth. The median graduation year is 2006. These are the cities with the most of them.
| City | Clinicians | Share of North Carolina |
|---|---|---|
| Charlotte | 2,433 | 11% |
| Durham | 2,019 | 9.5% |
| Winston Salem | 1,632 | 7.7% |
| Raleigh | 1,473 | 6.9% |
| Chapel Hill | 1,275 | 6% |
Largest practice groups in North Carolina
Groups ranked by the number of North Carolina clinicians the CMS file lists under them. 86% of North Carolina 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 | North Carolina clinicians listed |
|---|---|
| Duke Health Integrated Practice Inc | 1,774 |
| Wake Forest University Health Sciences | 1,204 |
| University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | 1,176 |
| Novant Health Medical Group, LLC | 1,005 |
| Carolinas Physicians Network Inc | 909 |
A health system can appear under more than one legal name, so a group here may be part of a larger one.
Questions about North Carolina doctors
22,855 MD and DO clinicians in North Carolina 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 207 per 100,000 residents, 29th 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 North Carolina, with 9,631, then physician assistants with 7,640. 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 North Carolina 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.