New Report Finds 80% of U.S. Counties Are Health Care ‘Deserts’
Posted by Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity on July 29, 2025
In this Spotlight Exclusive, GoodRx Senior Health Economist Amanda Nguyen shares new findings from a report revealing that more than 120 million Americans live in health care deserts, which are defined as areas lacking access to one or more of the following: pharmacies, hospitals, and hospital beds, trauma centers, primary care professionals, and low-cost, federally funded health centers. Building on a 2021 report, Ngyuen and the GoodRx research team developed an updated analysis to explore how access to health care infrastructure has evolved over the past four years.
The new report finds that lack of access to pharmacies and hospital care comprehensively have seen the most significant increase, with more than 48 million people living in pharmacy deserts, and 50 million living more than an hour from a trauma care center. Ngyuen points to factors such as living in rural areas, low incomes, low health insurance rates, and limited internet access as contributors to these worsening trends. As providers and hospitals brace for the effects of the GOP-led budget bill passed earlier this month, Nyguen warns that the legislation may further destabilize the entire healthcare system, with the combined impact of insurance loss, rising premiums, staffing shortages, and financial strain increasing barriers to care.
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