More physicians want to practice in the Lone Star State as the Texas Medical Board received a record 8,270 medical license applications during the 2025 fiscal year, marking the third consecutive year more than 8,000 applications flowed in for processing.
The record surge in physician applications coincides with the so-far nonstop population boom in Texas. U.S. Census Bureau data shows 31.7 million people now call Texas home, an increase of about 400,000 from the previous year.
“The increase in the physician number of licenses, especially when you look at the trends, it’s incredible,” said Alisha Young, MD, chair of the Texas Medical Association’s Committee on Physician Distribution and Health Care Access. “In terms of the physicians who actually practice, it’s a long-term investment in the state and, in a larger context, in the nation’s well-being because that’s what it takes to care for our growing population.”
Dr. Young, a Houston-based UT Health Science Center faculty member with subspecialities in pulmonary critical care and hospice palliative care, is energized by the future. Texas has attracted 24,731 license applicants the last three years, the highest three-year total in the state’s history.
According to TMA analysis, the number of newly licensed physicians in Texas has increased 70% over the past five years.
Texas has historically ranked near the bottom nationally in doctor-to-patient ratio, according to TMA analysis. In 2015, the state had 177.4 direct care physicians for every 100,000 patients. That ratio climbed over the next decade even with booming population in the state and was at 205 direct care physicians for every 100,000 patients in 2025, which is 43rd nationwide. In 2025, the nationwide ratio was 252 physicians for every 100,000 patients.
“We didn’t have very many doctors for the people in the state,” said Stephen Whitney, MD, former chair of TMA’s Committee on Physician Distribution and Health Care Access. The retired Missouri City pediatrician said the state has room to grow, “but we’re moving in the right direction. TMA’s been doing an incredible job in working with the state legislature to secure state funding,” and the legislature has responded to medicine’s call, Dr. Young said.
TMA has been involved in multiple initiatives to strengthen the state’s workforce. During the 2025 legislative session, the association worked with key lawmakers to help secure legislative funding for undergraduate and graduate medical education (GME), loan repayment, and rural training programs.
According to TMA estimates, Texas still needs another 200 first-year residency positions by 2033 to stay at its target 1.1-to-1 ratio of entry-level residency positions to state medical school graduates. TMA advocated for the increased funding lawmakers granted for the GME expansion grant program, which landed at $304 million for 2026-27. That represented a 30.5% increase over the previous biennium.
Texas ranks 4th in the nation in retention of residents for medical practice at 64.9%, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.
From a long-term perspective, Drs. Young and Whitney both say with Texas’ legislative professional liability reforms and ongoing population growth projections, the state continues to attract physicians.
“Texas, it’s a great state for many reasons,” Dr. Whitney said. “But it’s also a great place to practice medicine.”