Max Mello
Director of Physician & APP Recruitment
Healthcare Recruiting · Iowa
Physician, PA & NP recruiting in Iowa, grounded in the market's real numbers.
We track Iowa'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 Iowa today
Individual providers with an active Iowa practice address, from the federal NPI registry (June 2026).
10,148
Physicians
4,458
Nurse practitioners
1,751
Physician assistants
Over the last 12 months, Iowa added 240 newly enrolled nurse practitioners, 238 physicians, and 47 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 Iowa healthcare employers.
Hospitals
40,266 employed, up 0.8% year over year. Average wages up 4.1% over the same period.
Ambulatory care
61,188 employed across 5,927 sites, and the site count itself is down 0.4% year over year: more locations competing for the same clinicians.
Source: BLS QCEW, statewide, private ownership, Q4 2024 vs Q4 2025.
Compensation
What Iowa pays
Mean annual wages from the federal occupational employment survey. Offers below these lines explain their own vacancy.
| Role | Employed in Iowa | Mean annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| Family medicine physicians | 1,140 | $279,120 |
| Nurse practitioners | 3,240 | $136,940 |
| Physician assistants | 1,200 | $139,870 |
Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025 estimates.
Shortage pressure
226 federally designated primary care shortage areas in Iowa.
0 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 226 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 Iowa?
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.