Data released by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) reported that, as of March 31, 2025, more than 59.7 million Americans resided in settings or communities designated as dental health professional shortage areas (HPSA).  A dental health HPSA is a population group, facility, or geographic area where dental care access is limited because too few dentists serve the area relative to the population of the HPSA.  Dental health HPSAs in the five-state Rocky Mountain region were home to just over 1.8 million residents, or approximately 3% of the U.S. population who lived in dental care shortfall areas.  The HRSA estimates that HPSAs in the five Rocky Mountain states would need 207 additional dentists to eliminate the dental care shortfall in the region.  Here is a state-level look at the dental care shortfall in the Rocky Mountain region:

The Dental Care Shortfall in the Rocky Mountain Region

State	(1) HPSAs	(2) Population	(3) Shortfall
CO	109	884,783	85
ID	96	471,159	60
MT	115	241,855	32
UT	56	167,532	23
WY	26	47,162	7
Region	402	1,812,491	207
U.S.	7,054	59,718,174	10,143

(1) HRSA-designated Geographic Units, Population Groups, and Facilities with a dental care shortfall

(2) Population of designated HPSAs

(3) Dental Care practitioners needed to remove HPSA Designation

Source:  Designated HPSA Quarterly Summary, 3/31/25 (HRSA)

A population group, facility, or geographic area where access to mental health care is poor due to an inadequate number of practitioners may be designated by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) as a mental health HPSA (health professional shortage area). As of March 31, 2025, more than 122.3 million Americans lived in a mental health care shortfall area according to HRSA data.  That figure included nearly 6.9 million residents living in the Mid-Eastern U.S., a region that encompasses five states and the District of Columbia.  The HRSA estimates that HPSAs in the Mid-Eastern U.S. would need 453 more mental health care practitioners to eliminate the shortfall in the region.  A closer examination of March 31, 2025, HRSA data reveals the following about the mental health care shortfall in the Mid-Eastern U.S.:

The Mental Health Care Shortfall in the Mid-Eastern U.S.

State	(1) HPSAs	(2) Population	(3) Shortfall
DE	12	316,367	41
DC	11	126,214	8
MD	48	1,515,872	81
NJ	39	404,293	28
NY	197	3,662,589	230
PA	119	857,739	65
Region	426	6,883,274	453
U.S.	6,418	122,383,988	6,202

(1) HRSA-designated Geographic Units, Population Groups, and Facilities with a mental health care shortfall

(2) Population of designated HPSAs

(3) Mental Health Care practitioners needed to remove HPSA Designation

Source:  Designated HPSA Quarterly Summary, March 31, 2025 (HRSA)