As of December 31, 2022, more than 98.5 million Americans lived in a primary care health professional shortage area (HPSA) according to data from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).  A primary care HPSA is a population group, geographic area, or facility where residents have poor access to basic medical care because too few primary care physicians work in the area relative to the size of the population.  The HRSA estimates that HPSAs throughout the country would need over 17,000 more primary care physicians to eliminate the national primary care shortage.

Here is a summary look at America's primary care shortage by region (for state-level details, follow the "region" link):

America's Primary Care Shortage by Region

Region	(1) HPSAs	(2) Population	(3) Shortage
Far West	1,515	15,434,587	2,765
Great Lakes	1,067	13,616,456	2,028
Great Plains	1,237	6,106,844	1,221
MidEast	491	9,606,286	2,029
New England	252	1,396,786	216
Rocky Mountain	504	3,652,236	586
Southeast	2,171	32,810,866	5,283
Southwest	988	13,630,751	2,266
U.S. Territories	69	2,282,445	671
U.S.	8,294	98,537,257	17,065

(1) Designated Geographic, Population Group, and Facility HPSAs with a primary care shortage

(2) Population of designated HPSAs

(3) Primary Care practitioners needed to remove HPSA Designation

Source:  Designated HPSA Quarterly Summary, 12/31/22 (HRSA)