Clinical Psychologist: how many are there, and how many are in private practice?

National totals

What this specialty covers

A psychologist who provides continuing and comprehensive mental and behavioral health care for individuals and families; consultation to agencies and communities; training, education and supervision; and research-based practice. It is a specialty in breadth -- one that is broadly inclusive of severe psychopathology -- and marked by comprehensiveness and integration of knowledge and skill from a broad array of disciplines within and outside of psychology proper. The scope of clinical psychology encompasses all ages, multiple diversities and varied systems.

Reading the sole-proprietor share

For this specialty, 33,038 active records, or 44.1%, are flagged as sole proprietors in NPPES. Because this is a self-reported administrative field, it is an imperfect proxy for private practice and should not be treated as a direct count of clinical psychologists who practice independently.

By state

New NPI registrations by year

Counts reflect the year each NPI was first issued, among records still active today. The final year is partial: this data covers through 2026-01-11.

Data notes

• The sole-proprietor field is self-reported by the provider in NPPES and is an imperfect proxy for private practice.
• A sole-proprietor count shown as <11 is suppressed: the true value is below 11, which could include zero.
• • Active NPI records are administrative records, not direct counts of unique clinical psychologists, practices, or clinical volume.
• • A primary taxonomy may not capture every service a clinical psychologist provides or every provider who uses another primary taxonomy.
• • NPI enumeration year records issuance timing, not the start of clinical practice or private practice.
• Providers are counted once, by their primary taxonomy code only.

Source: CMS National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES) Data Dissemination file, FOIA-disclosable public data under CMS-6060-N. Aggregated by Hero EMR on 2026-08-03; deactivated NPIs excluded; specialty assigned from the primary taxonomy code (NUCC 25.1). Counts below 11 are suppressed. Individual providers are never published. All provider data pages.

Common questions