---
type: source
title: "HRSA State of the Behavioral Health Workforce 2025 — 122M Americans in Shortage Areas, Psychiatrist Supply Declining 20% by 2030"
author: "HRSA Bureau of Health Workforce"
url: https://bhw.hrsa.gov/sites/default/files/bureau-health-workforce/data-research/Behavioral-Health-Workforce-Brief-2025.pdf
date: 2025-12
domain: health
secondary_domains: []
format: report
status: unprocessed
priority: high
tags: [mental-health, workforce, shortage, psychiatrist, access, hrsa, behavioral-health, supply]
intake_tier: research-task
---

## Content

HRSA Bureau of Health Workforce 2025 Behavioral Health Workforce Brief — key findings:

**Shortage scope (December 2024 data):**
- More than 122 million Americans live in designated Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs)
- More than 150 million people live in federally designated mental health professional shortage areas (some overlap)
- More than half of U.S. counties lack a single psychiatrist
- 65% of nonmetropolitan counties completely lack psychiatrists; cities experience selective shortages

**Workforce projections:**
- Adult psychiatrist supply projected to DECREASE 20% by 2030 (retirements outpacing new entrants)
- Demand for psychiatrist services expected to INCREASE 3% over same period
- Shortage of over 12,000 fully-trained adult psychiatrists by 2030
- Longer-term: shortage of 43,660 to 93,940 adult psychiatrists by 2037
- Projected shortages: addiction counselors, marriage and family therapists, mental health counselors, psychologists, psychiatric PAs — all significant

**Access impact:**
- National average wait time for behavioral health services: 48 days
- Current appointment wait times: 3 weeks to 6 months depending on location and specialty
- 6 in 10 psychologists do NOT accept new patients
- Rural communities face workforce shortages at nearly twice the rate of urban areas

**Burnout:**
- 2023 survey of 750 behavioral health professionals: 93% experienced burnout, 62% experienced SEVERE burnout
- Burnout is both cause and effect of the shortage — high caseloads + inadequate reimbursement → burnout → exit → higher caseloads

**What's not helping:**
- MHPAEA enforcement (targets coverage parity, not workforce supply)
- Technology (teletherapy reduces geographic barriers but doesn't create new therapists)
- Loan repayment programs (H.R.6672 Mental Health Professionals Workforce Shortage Loan Repayment Act of 2025 is in the 119th Congress — not yet law)

## Agent Notes

**Why this matters:** The HRSA data makes the supply constraint concrete and quantitative. 48-day wait times, 6/10 psychologists not accepting new patients — these are the ACCESS numbers that enforcement cannot change. You can mandate perfect benefit design parity and still have a 48-day wait time if there are no providers to see.

**What surprised me:** The psychiatrist supply is projected to DECREASE — not just fail to keep up with demand, but actually shrink — 20% by 2030. This means the shortage is not stable; it's accelerating in the wrong direction. The window for intervention is closing.

**What I expected but didn't find:** Any evidence that teletherapy platforms (BetterHelp, Talkspace) are meaningfully closing the access gap in shortage areas. The existing KB claim says "technology primarily serves the already-served rather than expanding access" — the HRSA data supports this.

**KB connections:**
- Directly supports: "the mental health supply gap is widening not closing because demand outpaces workforce growth and technology primarily serves the already-served rather than expanding access"
- Confirms: enforcement (federal or state) addresses benefit design, not workforce supply — enforcement cannot solve the problem the HRSA data quantifies
- Connects to the RTI 27.1% reimbursement differential: lower reimbursement → burnout → exit → shrinking supply

**Extraction hints:**
- CLAIM: "Mental health workforce shortage is accelerating as psychiatrist supply falls 20% by 2030 while demand rises 3%, creating a structural access gap that insurance parity enforcement cannot address"
- This is an update/enrichment of existing KB claim "the mental health supply gap is widening not closing"
- The 20% supply decline vs. 3% demand increase is the specific quantitative update
- The mechanism is: reimbursement differential → burnout → workforce exit → shrinking supply

**Context:** HRSA is the authoritative federal source for health workforce data. Their projections are the basis for federal shortage area designations that determine federal funding allocations.

## Curator Notes (structured handoff for extractor)
PRIMARY CONNECTION: "The mental health supply gap is widening not closing" — this enriches it with 2025 projections
WHY ARCHIVED: The 20% decline in psychiatrist supply by 2030 is a significant quantitative update. Combined with the 48-day average wait time and 6/10 psychologists not accepting patients, this makes the shortage concrete and measurable, not just directional.
EXTRACTION HINT: Enrich the existing claim rather than writing a new one. Add: "Psychiatrist supply projected to fall 20% by 2030 while demand rises 3%" and "6/10 psychologists not accepting new patients, 48-day average wait." These specifics make the existing claim stronger.
