Race & Ethnicity of California’s Health Workforce

Why are the Race & Ethnicity of our Health Workforce Important?#

Racial and ethnic representation is a critical factor in fostering trust, communication, and overall effectiveness in the relationship between patients and their healthcare providers. Research has consistently shown that when patients are treated by providers who share their racial or ethnic background, they are more likely to feel understood, respected, and comfortable discussing sensitive health issues. This cultural and linguistic concordance often leads to better patient engagement, increased adherence to treatment plans, and improved health outcomes.

Moreover, studies have demonstrated that racial and ethnic concordance can enhance patient safety and the overall quality of care. For example, patients who share racial or cultural similarities with their healthcare providers report higher satisfaction, are more likely to utilize preventive services, and experience fewer miscommunications during clinical encounters. This is particularly important in addressing health disparities that disproportionately affect communities of color.

Understanding the racial and ethnic makeup of the healthcare workforce is therefore essential for achieving equity in care delivery. By collecting and analyzing demographic data, we can identify areas where certain racial or ethnic groups are underrepresented in key healthcare roles. This insight enables targeted interventions, such as outreach, training, and recruitment initiatives, that align with the mission of the California Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI) to build a more diverse, inclusive, and culturally competent workforce.

How HCAI Created This Product#

• Licensure data was collected by the Department of Consumer Affairs; all data presented represents a snapshot of the active licensee population on December 3^rd, 2024.
• This product is based on HCAI Health Workforce License Renewal Survey data; all data presented as of December 3^rd, 2024. The responses to these surveys were adjusted using cell based weighting to create estimates of the full population. Decline to state answers were excluded from the data for each visualization, as well as licensees who did not report actively working in a position that requires their license, or were not currently working but seeking work in their field at the time of renewal. See the Response Rates tab for the percent of active licenses surveyed, as well as the decline to state rate for each question by license type and workforce category. Licenses without a valid Date of Birth were excluded from the Age Group visualization.
• Population data was retrieved from the US Census Bureau’s DP05 ACS Demographic and Housing Estimates 2023 ACS 5 year estimate. Race & Ethnicity groups were defined using the US Census Bureau’s definitions of Race and Ethnicity and are listed below:

Race Group	Race
American Indian or Alaska Native	Alaska Native, American Indian, Native American
Asian	Asian Indian, Cambodian, Chinese, Filipino, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Laotian/Hmong, Malaysian, Other Asian, Pakistani, Singaporean, Taiwanese, Thai, Vietnamese
Black	African, African American, Black
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander	Fijian, Guamanian, Hawaiian, Other Pacific Islander, Samoan, Tongan
Other	Other (not listed)
White	European, Middle Eastern, White/Caucasian

Ethnicity Group	Ethnicity
Hispanic	Central American; Cuban; Mexican, Mexican American, Chicano/a; Other Hispanic, Latino/a or Spanish origin; Puerto Rican; South American
Not Hispanic	Not of Hispanic, Latino/a or of Spanish origin

Race & Ethnicity Group	Race Group	Ethnicity Group
American Indian, Non-Hispanic	American Indian or Alaska Native	Not Hispanic
Asian, Non-Hispanic	Asian	Not Hispanic
Black, Non-Hispanic	Black	Not Hispanic
Hispanic, Any Race	Any race group	Hispanic
Pacific Islander, Non-Hispanic	Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander	Not Hispanic
Other, Non-Hispanic	Other	Not Hispanic
White, Non-Hispanic	White	Not Hispanic
Multiracial, Non-Hispanic	2 or more distinct race groups	Not Hispanic

• Racial and Ethnic concordance was calculated as the magnitude of difference between a county’s percentage of the health workforce in a Race & Ethnicity group and the percentage of the county’s population in the same Race & Ethnicity group.
• Regions were defined by California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) and are listed below:

Region	Counties
Central Coast	Monterey, San Benito, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Ventura
Greater Bay Area	Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, Sonoma
Inland Empire	Riverside, San Bernardino
Los Angeles County	Los Angeles
Northern and Sierra	Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, Del Norte, Glenn, Humboldt, Inyo, Lake, Lassen, Mariposa, Mendocino, Modoc, Mono, Nevada, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity, Tuolumne, Yuba
Orange County	Orange
Sacramento Area	El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, Yolo
San Diego Area	Imperial, San Diego
San Joaquin Valley	Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Merced, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Tulare

• Workforce Categories were defined by HCAI using License Type and are listed below:

Workforce Category	License Types
Advanced Practice Nursing	Clinical Nurse Specialist, Licensed Midwife, Nurse Anesthetist, Nurse Midwife, Nurse Practitioner
Allied Health	Advanced Practice Pharmacist, Audiologist, Chiropractor, Doctor of Podiatric Medicine, Licensed Acupuncturist, Occupational Therapist, Occupational Therapy Assistant, Optometrist, Pharmacy Technician, Physical Therapist, Physical Therapist Assistant, Polysomnographic Technician, Polysomnographic Technologist, Psychiatric Technician, Registered Pharmacist, Respiratory Care Practitioner, Speech Pathologist, Speech-Language Pathology Assistant
Behavioral Health	Associate Clinical Social Worker, Associate Marriage and Family Therapist, Associate Professional Clinical Counselor, Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Licensed Educational Psychologist, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor, Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse, Psychologist, Registered Psychological Associate
Medicine	Naturopathic Doctor, Osteopathic Physician and Surgeon, Physician and Surgeon, Physician Assistant
Nursing	Public Health Nurse, Registered Nurse, Vocational Nurse
Oral Health	Dentist, Orthodontic Assistant, RDA In Extended Functions, RDH Alternative Practice, RDH Extended Function, Registered Dental Assistant, Registered Dental Hygienist

Note: Chiropractors, Hearing Aid Dispenser – Trainees, Licensed Midwives, Polysomnographic Technicians, Polysomnographic Technologists and Polysomnographic Trainees were removed from the dataset due to a lack of online licensure renewals resulting in less than 50% of the active licenses surveyed at the time of the data pull. RDH Extended Function were excluded from the Regional Details and Age Group visualizations per de-identification guidelines due to small sample sizes, however they are included in the Oral Health workforce group in the County Level Concordance visualization and the Response Rates table.