Max Mello
Director of Physician & APP Recruitment
Healthcare Recruiting · California
Physician, PA & NP recruiting in California, grounded in the market's real numbers.
We track California's provider workforce 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
Who practices in California today
Individual providers with an active California practice address, from the federal NPI registry (June 2026).
132,022
Physicians
33,272
Nurse practitioners
18,111
Physician assistants
Over the last 12 months, California added 2,164 newly enrolled nurse practitioners, 382 physicians, and 745 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.
Demand
Employment is growing on both sides of the market
Federal quarterly employment data for California healthcare employers.
Hospitals
430,904 employed, up 1.8% year over year. Average wages up 3.2% over the same period.
Ambulatory care
1,103,373 employed across 107,897 sites, and the site count itself is up 4.6% year over year: more locations competing for the same clinicians.
Source: BLS QCEW, statewide, private ownership, Q4 2024 vs Q4 2025.
Compensation
What California pays
Mean annual wages from the federal occupational employment survey. Offers below these lines explain their own vacancy.
| Role | Employed in California | Mean annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| Family medicine physicians | n/a | $252,930 |
| Nurse practitioners | 25,120 | $176,760 |
| Physician assistants | 13,600 | $169,110 |
Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025 estimates.
Shortage pressure
1,119 federally designated primary care shortage areas in California.
109 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, and every open req is competing with 1,119 other designated areas for the same clinicians. That is the search we run every day.
Source: HRSA HPSA primary care detail file.
Tell us about the opening
Hiring in California?
Tell us about the role. We'll give you an honest read on the market for it: who's movable, what they expect, and a realistic timeline.