California’s Health Care Workforce Almanac — 2024 Edition

California’s health care industry employed more than 1.8 million people in 2022. Among these workers, nearly 53% were employed in ambulatory settings, 31% in hospitals, and 16% in nursing and residential care facilities. As the state’s population ages and grows, demand for health care services will likely increase.

This series of quick reference guides from CHCF’s California Health Care Almanac examines the state’s health care workforce. The guides focus on pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, physician assistants, health diagnostic and treatment therapists, clinical laboratory scientists and technicians, imaging professionals, mental health professionals, and community health workers.

Key findings include:

• California’s supply of pharmacists increased 38% between 2012 and 2022, while the supply of pharmacy technicians increased by 16%. Sixty-five percent of the state’s pharmacists attended pharmacy school in California.
• The number of physician assistants (PAs) in California more than doubled between 2012 and 2022. Orange County had more licensed PAs per capita than any other region in the state.
• The supply of health diagnostic and treatment therapists increased between 2012 and 2022.
• Between 2012 and 2022, there was an 11% increase in the number of clinical laboratory scientists and technicians in California.
• The supply of mental health professionals varied by region and specialty.

Individual quick reference guides are available for download below. These materials are part of CHCF’s California Health Care Almanac, an online clearinghouse for key data and analyses describing the state’s health care landscape. To see past editions of this almanac, contact us.