
Max Mello
Director of Physician & APP Recruitment
Healthcare Recruiting · Birmingham, AL
We track the Birmingham-Hoover, AL area from federal data that updates every month, the same numbers we use when we take a search. Here is the current picture, and what it means if you are hiring.
Provider supply
5,004
Physicians
2,436
Nurse practitioners
649
Physician assistants
Over the last 12 months, the Birmingham metro added 76 newly enrolled nurse practitioners, 10 physicians, and 73 physician assistants to the registry. New NP enrollments outpaced new physicians: the advanced-practice workforce is growing faster than the physician base, and hiring plans that ignore that mix are competing for the scarcer pool.
Source: CMS NPPES registry, June 2026. Scope: Alabama side of the Birmingham metro area.
Demand
12,530 employed, down 17.3% year over year. Average wages down 2.2% over the same period.
32,082 employed across 2,617 sites.
Source: BLS QCEW county files, private ownership, Q4 2024 vs Q4 2025.
Occupation-level wages are published at state level (see the parent state page); metro wage signal = QCEW average weekly wages above. See Alabama pay ranges →
Shortage pressure
1 of them score in the high-need range. If your facility sits in or near one, you are not imagining it: the supply math is against you. That is the search we run every day.
Source: HRSA HPSA primary care detail file.
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Tell us about the role. We'll give you an honest read on the local market for it: who's movable, what they expect, and a realistic timeline.