Practice patterns and socio-demographics of active American podiatrists

National aggregate provider data has not been available for podiatric health services research. We obtained complete survey data from the American Podiatric Medical Association (APMA) to further ascertain podiatrist socio-demographics and practice patterns in the United States. Our data is collected throughout a podiatrist’s education and career through yearly surveys with additional data from APMA, the American Board of Podiatric Medicine (ABPM), and the American Board of Podiatric Surgery (ABPS). We used information on the 23,630 podiatrists who have ever trained and/or practiced in the United States, including principal findings on the 21,007 podiatrists currently in active practice. 44.1% of active American podiatrists have any type of podiatric board qualification or certification. Five podiatric schools account for 89% of podiatrists in active practice. 76.9% of active podiatrists are male, although 41.0% of current podiatric trainees and 44.4% of early-career podiatrists are women. The podiatrist supply/100,000 capita varies widely by state: New Jersey has the highest rate at 13.58 while Mississippi has the lowest rate at 2.59. Rates also differ widely by states with large populations: the rates of California, Texas, and New York are 6.10, 4.05, and 13.33, respectively. The national rate is 6.53. Podiatrists are not evenly distributed in the United States, raising concerns that some areas may be over- or under-supplied, with clear implications for the availability and delivery of foot and ankle care nationwide. Future research will link these data to national claims datasets to use as predictors and adjusters for outcomes-based studies.