How many private doctors are there in the United States? NextMD counts over 9,500 physicians

NextMD's proprietary database contains 9,505 doctors across 6,905 practices, as of November 2, 2026. This database is the primary source for the doctor counts and practice-model breakdown in this article.[1]

Assuming we might have missed 10-20% of private doctors who might not have a website, NextMD's working estimate is approximately 10,600 to 11,900 doctors nationwide.

This lines up fairly closely to, Concierge Medicine Today estimates 8,000 to 12,000 membership practices nationwide.[2]

NextMD predicts the number of private physicians in the United States will grow by nearly 40% over the next year.

CMT's estimate combines concierge medicine, direct primary care (DPC), and hybrid membership practices. Its own counting brief explicitly confirms that broader scope.[3] Our comparison uses NextMD's full directory, then breaks down the doctors and practices by care model.

One distinction matters before comparing the figures: 8,000 to 12,000 is a practice estimate. NextMD's 9,505 is a doctor count. A practice can have several doctors. The matching NextMD practice count is 6,905.

What Concierge Medicine Today includes

CMT's November 1 industry report announcement estimates 8,000 to 12,000 U.S. practices operating under a subscription or membership structure. It then assumes 1.2 to 1.5 physicians per practice to estimate the corresponding physician population.[2]

The calculation is straightforward:

• 8,000 practices × 1.2 physicians = 9,600 physicians.

• 12,000 practices × 1.5 physicians = 18,000 physicians.

That produces CMT's estimated range of 9,600 to 18,000 physicians. CMT describes its figures as directional estimates, drawing on workforce data and observation of the industry, rather than a centralized national registry.[2]

The 8,000 to 12,000 practice range already includes DPC and hybrid practices. Adding a separate national DPC estimate to it would risk counting the same practices twice.[3]

How NextMD's total compares

The 9,505 doctors and 6,905 practices are observed database totals. Our national physician estimate adds an explicit assumption about doctors outside that database. CMT's figures also attempt to describe the broader market, including practices a directory may not contain.

We also should not subtract our practice count from CMT's range and describe the difference as a verified list of missing practices. That would require matching the underlying records and inclusion rules. CMT's published range does not provide that reconciliation.

The breakdown of NextMD's 9,505 doctors

We counted the full doctor table in NextMD's proprietary database, then assigned each doctor the care model recorded for their linked practice in our research database.[1] The table below keeps practices and doctors separate.

Primary source: NextMD proprietary physician and practice database, November 2, 2026 snapshot, matched to our practice-model classifications. Categories describe the linked practice's recorded model, rather than a separate classification of each doctor's individual services.[1]

Concierge and DPC together account for 7,711 doctors, or 81.1% of the total. Hybrid, specialty, and performance practices contribute another 1,708 doctors. The remaining 86 doctor records stay in the total even though this analysis could not assign them a practice model.

For patients, those categories help explain the membership being offered. Concierge practices commonly charge a membership fee while continuing to bill insurance; DPC practices typically operate outside insurance billing.[4] Our concierge medicine and DPC comparison explains the practical differences.

Which states have the most concierge and DPC doctors?

California has the most concierge doctors listed in NextMD's November 2 snapshot, with 713. Texas leads DPC with 255. Florida ranks second in both categories, with 622 concierge doctors and 199 DPC doctors.[1]

The charts below rank states separately for each model. They count doctor records linked to practices in each state, using the same 9,505-record snapshot as the national breakdown above.

Top 10 states for concierge doctors

Arizona and Massachusetts tie for ninth place with 148 doctor records each.

Top 10 states for DPC doctors

*Primary source: NextMD proprietary physician and practice database, November 2, 2026 snapshot.[1]

What we may have missed in our data

NextMD's database provides a starting count of 9,505 doctor records. To estimate the broader national population, we allow for the possibility that 10–20% of eligible doctors are missing from our database. This is a NextMD working assumption; we have not measured that missing share through an independent census.[1]

If we are missing 10% of all eligible doctors, the database represents 90% of the total. If we are missing 20%, it represents 80%. The calculation is:

Estimated total doctors = 9,505 ÷ the share we believe we have identified.

That gives us a working range of approximately 10,600 to 11,900 doctors across the broader concierge, DPC, and membership-medicine category. It assumes the full directory is a suitable starting population, including the other models shown above. It is not a projection limited to the 7,711 doctors classified specifically as concierge or DPC.

The 10–20% assumption applies to doctors, so we do not apply it to practice counts or claim to know how many practices are missing. We also do not assume the doctors we have missed follow the same model mix as those already in the database.

How we calculated the database counts

We used the November 2 snapshot of NextMD's proprietary database and four counting steps:[1]

1. Count every practice and doctor in the export. The practice table contains 6,905 records and the doctor table contains 9,505. Both match the export's summary totals.

2. Check the database identifiers. Each practice and doctor record has a unique identifier within its table. We counted doctor records directly rather than multiplying practices by assumed staffing.

3. Match practice classifications. We linked the exported practice identifiers to the care models in our research database, then used each doctor's linked practice to assign a model.

4. Keep unmatched records in the total. We left 28 practices and 86 doctors unclassified rather than guessing their model or dropping them. Of those doctors, 70 had no linked practice present in the export; 16 linked to practices whose model we could not match.

These are directory-record counts. Unique database identifiers do not establish that every real-world physician appears exactly once, or that every practice listing represents a separate business. Our method makes the count reproducible without presenting it as an independent national census.

What MD/DO-only means

NextMD's listing standard requires a physician owner or physician lead with a Doctor of Medicine (MD) or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) degree.

A practice can employ nurse practitioners (NPs) or physician assistants (PAs) alongside that physician. A practice without an MD or DO physician owner or lead falls outside our listing scope.

That eligibility standard is separate from whether every directory field is complete. The 9,505 total counts the site's doctor records. It is not a count restricted to profiles with a populated degree field or a fresh credential audit of every doctor.

What a national count misses

For a patient, a national total cannot establish whether a nearby physician is accepting members, treats your age group, or offers the services you need. Someone comparing concierge doctors in Florida still needs current answers from each office about availability, membership terms, and who provides their care.

For a practice owner, national totals also leave out local competition and open patient capacity. A practice with a waitlist and one actively enrolling patients each contribute one listing. A group such as Sweetwater Medical Associates in Sugar Land contributes a practice listing, while its linked doctors contribute separately to the physician count.

Directory growth also differs from industry growth. Discovering an established practice increases NextMD's coverage without adding a new practice to the country. Measuring the industry's growth requires consistent definitions and comparable records over time.

FAQ

Does the 8,000 to 12,000 estimate include DPC?

Yes. CMT explicitly describes it as a broader membership-medicine estimate that includes DPC and hybrid practices.[3]

How many doctors are on NextMD?

The November 2, 2026 database export contains 9,505 doctor records and 6,905 practice records. The doctor total includes 5,007 linked to concierge practices and 2,704 linked to DPC practices, alongside other models and unmatched records.

How many concierge and DPC doctors might there be nationwide?

NextMD's working estimate is approximately 10,600 to 11,900 doctors across the broader membership-medicine category. It uses 9,505 database records and assumes that 10–20% of the total physician population in that category remains outside our database. The missing share is an assumption, not a verified coverage rate.[1]

Are CMT's 8,000 to 12,000 practices the same as 8,000 to 12,000 doctors?

No. CMT separately estimates 9,600 to 18,000 physicians by applying a staffing assumption to its practice range.[2]

Find a physician-led practice near you. Search NextMD to compare concierge and DPC practices, then confirm the physician, membership terms, and current availability with the office.

Sources

1. NextMD. (November 2, 2026). NextMD proprietary physician and practice database and national-count scenario analysis. Primary source: 6,905 practice records and 9,505 doctor records, with practice-model classifications from NextMD's research database. The 10–20% missing-doctor adjustment is a NextMD working assumption, not a measured coverage rate. The dated source snapshot is internal; the public interface is the NextMD physician-led practice directory.

2. Concierge Medicine Today Editorial Team. (November 1, 2026). Concierge Medicine Today Releases 2026 Concierge & Membership Medicine Industry Report. Concierge Medicine Today. Read the industry report announcement.

3. Concierge Medicine Today. (October 2026). Counting Concierge: Why Nobody Agrees on the Size of the Field, and a Standard to Fix It. CMT Research Brief No. 28. Read CMT's clarification that its field estimate includes DPC and hybrid practices.

4. Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. (March 16, 2026). Fee-based primary care is rapidly rising in U.S., hastening doctor shortages for public. Summary of Zhu et al., Health Affairs, December 2025. Read the researchers' summary of the study.