New Research Shows 80% of the Country Lives in Healthcare Deserts

A growing number of Americans find themselves living in "health care deserts," areas lacking in the specific infrastructure and services needed to ensure timely access to medicine and care, new data suggests.

According to new research from health care and prescription price-comparison website GoodRx, 81 percent of U.S. counties—home to more than 120 million Americans—fall under this definition in some way. This includes those which lack proper access to either pharmacies, primary care, hospital beds, trauma centers or community health centers.

The report includes an interactive US Map by county that tracks access to healthcare resources in 6 broad categories: Pharmacy, Primary Care, Hospitals, Hospital Beds, Trauma Centers, and Healthcare. Key takeaways include:

  • Today, 45% of counties live in a pharmacy desert, which is up from only 41% in 2021.
  • Nearly half of the country lives in a hospital bed desert, defined as living in an area with fewer than 2 hospital beds per 1,000 people.
  • In primary care deserts, the number of primary care professionals available per population is over 2.5x the recommended level, with 1 full-time primary care professional per every 7,597 people.

A few key things of interest the analysis notes:

  1. While the number of federally designated primary care healthcare professional shortage areas has declined since 2021, the researchers note that is likely largely due to a system reclassification that withdrew shortage designations in 2024 for many facilities — not because primary care shortages actually improved.
  2. While the number of Americans living in health center deserts today has decreased slightly, down from 78 million people in 2021 to 71 million people in 2024, funding for these healthcare centers and programs, like community health centers, that address primary care shortages is currently at risk due to federal policy changes.

The states with the highest populations of healthcare-desert counties included: Wyoming (87%), Vermont (74%), Montana (70%), New Mexico (60%), and Alaska (56%). Factors that were most common in states with a number of healthcare deserts included: 1) Lack of health insurance, 2) low household income, and 3) poor internet access. Ohio ranked toward the middle of states with the average number of healthcare deserts.