October 2026 · Original research
Metro Dental Reports 2026
The 50 largest U.S. metro areas are home to 187,675,125 people. We counted every registered dentist in them, county by county, and set the numbers against Census population estimates.
What stands out
- Boston has the most dentists per resident (136.2 per 100,000). Orlando has the fewest (58.4), against a U.S. rate of 80.2.
- The biggest gap inside one metro is in Birmingham, AL, where the best-served county has 6.6x the dentists per person of the least-served one.
- Boston is adding new dentists fastest: 15.6 new NPIs per 100,000 residents from 2023 to 2025.
- Across the 50 metros, drug, device and dental supply companies paid dentists $60.8 million in 2025.
All 50 metros side by side
Ranked by dentists per 100,000 residents. Pick a metro for its county breakdown, specialists and full report.
| Metro | Dentists | Per 100k | Pediatric per 100k kids | New per 100k |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boston | 6,846 | 136.2 | 32 | 15.6 |
| San Jose | 2,622 | 131.4 | 17.4 | 6.2 |
| San Francisco Bay Area | 5,631 | 121.1 | 23.3 | 6.6 |
| Los Angeles | 14,506 | 112.2 | 19.3 | 7 |
| San Diego | 3,588 | 108.8 | 22.6 | 6.4 |
| Seattle | 4,405 | 106.3 | 20.4 | 7.2 |
| Denver | 3,106 | 101.8 | 25.9 | 8.1 |
| New York | 20,073 | 100.7 | 25.3 | 5.3 |
| Chicago | 9,368 | 99.6 | 11.6 | 8 |
| Milwaukee | 1,566 | 99.5 | 17 | 8.4 |
| Washington, DC | 6,384 | 99.2 | 22 | 6.3 |
| Detroit | 4,336 | 98.5 | 9.8 | 8.8 |
| Richmond, VA | 1,349 | 98.5 | 24 | 9 |
| Hartford | 1,120 | 95.8 | 24.9 | 5 |
| Portland, OR | 2,423 | 95.5 | 23.1 | 4.5 |
| Sacramento | 2,276 | 92.4 | 13.3 | 6.9 |
| Cleveland | 2,004 | 92.3 | 13.6 | 7.7 |
| San Antonio | 2,498 | 90.4 | 18.5 | 8.5 |
| Miami | 5,773 | 89.4 | 19.4 | 7.4 |
| Philadelphia | 5,574 | 88.1 | 24.9 | 7 |
| Minneapolis-St. Paul | 3,304 | 87.9 | 11.2 | 6.7 |
| Oklahoma City | 1,279 | 85.4 | 9.1 | 9.1 |
| Baltimore | 2,415 | 84.5 | 17.8 | 6.6 |
| Pittsburgh | 2,035 | 83.7 | 17.1 | 4.8 |
| Columbus, OH | 1,846 | 83 | 20 | 8.7 |
| Virginia Beach | 1,485 | 82.8 | 13.6 | 7.5 |
| Salt Lake City | 1,077 | 82.8 | 19.5 | 5.8 |
| Kansas City | 1,844 | 81.8 | 13.2 | 6.4 |
| Indianapolis | 1,766 | 81.2 | 18 | 6.8 |
| St. Louis | 2,269 | 80.7 | 10.7 | 7.1 |
| Louisville | 1,106 | 79.3 | 16.2 | 6.6 |
| Birmingham, AL | 924 | 77.5 | 18.6 | 9.9 |
| Dallas-Fort Worth | 6,394 | 76.6 | 16.5 | 6.2 |
| Las Vegas | 1,787 | 74.5 | 14 | 9.1 |
| Phoenix | 3,854 | 74.3 | 15 | 5.4 |
| Riverside-San Bernardino | 3,509 | 74 | 9.6 | 6.7 |
| Nashville | 1,570 | 73 | 21.7 | 6.1 |
| Providence | 1,238 | 72.8 | 13.6 | 6.7 |
| Jacksonville | 1,266 | 71.9 | 12.8 | 6.1 |
| Tampa | 2,457 | 71.7 | 16.3 | 6.8 |
| Grand Rapids | 841 | 71.3 | 10.2 | 4.3 |
| Houston | 5,503 | 70.6 | 13.1 | 5.2 |
| Fresno | 838 | 70.4 | 5 | 7.7 |
| Austin | 1,794 | 70.3 | 17.5 | 4.4 |
| Raleigh | 1,095 | 70.1 | 14.2 | 5.1 |
| Memphis | 893 | 66.7 | 13.4 | 4.5 |
| Charlotte | 1,888 | 65.5 | 14.3 | 5.4 |
| Cincinnati | 1,495 | 64.9 | 16.1 | 5.1 |
| Atlanta | 4,034 | 62.9 | 14.8 | 4.4 |
| Orlando | 1,718 | 58.4 | 9.6 | 6.5 |
| United States | 272,669 | 80.2 | 14.9 | 6 |
Methodology
Metros are U.S. Census metropolitan statistical areas (OMB 2023 delineations), the 50 largest by 2024 population. Each report covers every county in its metro.
Dentists are individual NPI registrations with a dental taxonomy; counts are registry-based, not licensure-based, and can include registrants who have retired without deactivating their NPI. Specialty is the registration's primary taxonomy.
A practice is placed in a county by its ZIP code, using the county that holds most of that ZIP's land area.
New registrations are individual dentists whose NPI was first issued in 2023, 2024 or 2025 and whose current practice address is in the metro.
Industry payments are CMS Open Payments general payments (meals, travel, consulting, education and similar) made to individual dentists in 2025; research payments are excluded. Receiving a payment does not imply wrongdoing.
Sources
- CMS NPPES, dental taxonomy (1223*) registrations, October 2026 pull, with deactivated NPIs removed
- CMS Open Payments, program year 2025 (general payments to individual dentists)
- U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2024 population estimates (county, metro and U.S. population and children under 18)
- OMB 2023 metropolitan area delineations; Census 2020 ZCTA-to-county relationship file
The U.S. Dental Access Report 2026 uses the same source and method, so its state figures line up with these metro figures.