Home / Provider data / Health Educator: how many are there, and how many are in private practice?

Health Educator: how many are there, and how many are in private practice?

Health educators work in varied settings to teach individuals or groups about healthy behaviors, wellness, and health-related topics, generally to help prevent disease and other health problems; the role typically requires a bachelor's degree and may include additional mentoring, internship, or volunteer training. This page shows the national count of active NPI records with Health Educator as their primary taxonomy, the reported sole-proprietor share, state distribution, and recent first-enumeration counts.

National totals

Active NPI records7,728
Registered sole proprietors2,898 (37.5%)
NUCC taxonomy code174H00000X
GroupingOther Service Providers

What this specialty covers

Health educators work in a variety of settings providing education to individuals or groups of individuals on healthy behaviors, wellness, and health-related topics with the goal of preventing diseases and health problems. Health educators generally require a bachelor's degree and may receive additional training, such as through mentoring, internships, or volunteer work.

Reading the sole-proprietor share

For this specialty, the sole-proprietor share describes the portion of active Health Educator NPI records whose owners marked the NPPES sole-proprietor field, not a verified measure of private practice. Health educators work across varied settings, so the self-reported flag may not capture employment, contracting, organizational affiliation, or actual practice ownership; use it as an indicator rather than a definitive private-practice count.

By state

StateActive NPIsSole proprietorsShare
California1,29246536.0%
New York93946149.1%
Michigan42921850.8%
Florida42417842.0%
Texas33713439.8%
Maryland2978428.3%
Pennsylvania2367632.2%
Oregon2057335.6%
Illinois1914925.7%
Ohio1866032.3%
Georgia1858747.0%
North Carolina1826937.9%
Massachusetts1794625.7%
Virginia1707845.9%
Washington1695532.5%
Wisconsin1443222.2%
Indiana1432819.6%
Minnesota1403323.6%
Colorado1374532.8%
New Jersey1206251.7%
Arizona1184538.1%
Missouri1112926.1%
South Carolina962627.1%
Oklahoma943840.4%
Utah893640.4%
New Mexico762228.9%
Alabama742027.0%
Delaware691826.1%
Mississippi632539.7%
Tennessee623150.0%
Connecticut621422.6%
Kentucky601728.3%
Louisiana552036.4%
Hawaii511223.5%
Idaho491530.6%
Arkansas47<11not reported
Nevada431944.2%
New Hampshire42<11not reported
Iowa42<11not reported
District of Columbia381436.8%
Kansas371437.8%
Maine271140.7%
Nebraska261142.3%
West Virginia21<11not reported
Montana21<11not reported
Rhode Island18<11not reported
South Dakota15<11not reported
Alaska14<11not reported
Wyoming12<11not reported

New NPI registrations by year

Year first enumeratedNPIs
2017310
2018985
2019620
2020590
2021509
2022476
2023526
2024558
2025689
2026 (partial year)22

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

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

How many Health Educators are there in the United States?

There are 7,728 active NPI records nationally with Health Educator as the primary taxonomy. This is a record count, not necessarily a count of distinct people.

How many Health Educators are in private practice?

NPPES flags 2,898 records, or 37.5%, as sole proprietors. That field is self-reported and should not be treated as a definitive count of people in private practice.

Which state has the most Health Educators?

California has the largest reported state count, with 1,292 active NPI records in this taxonomy.

How many Health Educator NPIs were first enumerated in 2025?

The figure for 2025 is 689 NPIs first enumerated that year.

Built for independent practices

Hero EMR is an EMR and practice-management platform for practices that run themselves. The first physician is free.

See a demo