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

National totals

What this specialty covers

A psychologist who specializes in general practice and health service. It focuses on how people function both personally and in their relationships at all ages. Counseling psychology addresses the emotional, social, work, school and physical health concerns people may have at different stages in their lives, focusing on typical life stresses and more severe issues with which people may struggle as individuals and as a part of families, groups and organizations. Counseling psychologists help people with physical, emotional and mental health issues improve their sense of well-being, alleviate feelings of distress and resolve crises. They also provide assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of more severe psychological symptoms.

Reading the sole-proprietor share

Among these records, 4,380, or 45.9%, are flagged in NPPES as sole proprietors. For Counseling Psychologist records, this is a useful indicator of how providers report their organization type, but it is an imperfect proxy for private practice because the field is self-reported and does not fully describe a psychologist's work or business arrangement.

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.
• - An NPI record is an administrative record and does not measure full-time activity, patient volume, or practice capacity.
• - State totals reflect NPPES location information, while first-enumeration counts show when NPIs were issued, not necessarily when providers began practicing in this specialty.
• 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