US Hospice Statistics 2026
A quick-reference list of the headline numbers on Medicare-certified hospice in the United States, each drawn from the public record and free to cite with attribution. The full analysis is in State of US Hospice 2026; reproducible methodology is on the methodology page.
Market size
How many Medicare-certified hospices are there in the US?
There are 6,852 Medicare-certified hospices in the United States.
Source: CMS Provider Data Catalog, May 2026 refresh (2026).
How many ZIP codes do US hospices cover?
US hospices cover 34,827 distinct ZIP codes, with an average service area of 51 ZIP codes and a median of 39.
Source: CMS Provider Data Catalog, May 2026 refresh (2026).
What is the largest hospice service area in the US?
The single largest service area belongs to VITAS Healthcare of Florida, at 957 ZIP codes; eight of the ten widest service areas belong to for-profit chains or multi-state operators.
Source: CMS Provider Data Catalog, May 2026 refresh (2026).
What share of US hospices are for-profit?
69.2% of US hospices are for-profit, against 11.8% nonprofit and 1.1% government; the rest are other or not yet coded by CMS.
Source: CMS Provider Data Catalog, May 2026 refresh (2026).
Quality ratings coverage
What share of hospices have a CAHPS star rating?
Only 30.3% of certified hospices (2,075 of 6,852) carry a CAHPS family-survey star rating; the other 69.7% show "not enough survey data."
Source: CMS Provider Data Catalog, CAHPS Hospice Survey, May 2026 refresh (2026).
Are nonprofit or for-profit hospices more likely to be rated?
73.7% of nonprofit hospices carry a star rating, against 25.7% of for-profits. The gap reflects survey volume and operating history, not a quality verdict.
Source: CMS Provider Data Catalog, CAHPS Hospice Survey, May 2026 refresh (2026).
Which states have the most and least quality-rating coverage?
Rating coverage ranges from 91.3% in Kentucky at the top down to 8.1% in California, 9.8% in Nevada, and 14.6% in Texas at the bottom.
Source: CMS Provider Data Catalog, CAHPS Hospice Survey, May 2026 refresh (2026).
The new cohort (2020 and later)
How many US hospices were certified in 2020 or later?
39.3% of all US hospices (2,693 of 6,852) were certified in 2020 or later, a demographic reset of the industry.
Source: CMS Provider Data Catalog, May 2026 refresh (2026).
How fast did hospice certifications grow?
After roughly 200 new hospices a year for two decades, certifications jumped to 379 in 2020, 738 in 2021, and 771 in 2022 before easing back.
Source: CMS Provider Data Catalog, May 2026 refresh (2026).
How likely are new hospices to have a quality rating?
73.1% of hospices certified before 2000 are rated, against 4.9% of those certified in 2020 or later (a rated sample of only 133 providers).
Source: CMS Provider Data Catalog, CAHPS Hospice Survey, May 2026 refresh (2026).
Are new hospices nonprofit or for-profit?
Nonprofits are 0.85% of the 2020-and-later cohort (23 hospices), against 18.8% of pre-2020 hospices; for-profit share of the new cohort is at least 68.1%.
Source: CMS Provider Data Catalog, May 2026 refresh (2026).
Geography and access
How many US counties are served by a hospice?
Hospices serve 3,198 of the nation's 3,229 county-equivalents through their service areas.
Source: CMS Provider Data Catalog (2026); US Census Bureau 2020 FIPS county-equivalents.
How many US counties have only one hospice?
51 US counties have exactly one serving hospice, meaning one closure or ownership change stands between the community and none.
Source: CMS Provider Data Catalog (2026); US Census Bureau 2020 ZCTA-to-county crosswalk.
How many US counties have no hospice at all?
31 counties have no serving hospice. Twenty are remote Alaska boroughs and census areas; the rest are island municipalities and frontier counties.
Source: CMS Provider Data Catalog (2026); US Census Bureau 2020 ZCTA-to-county crosswalk.
Which US county has the most hospices?
Los Angeles County is served by roughly 1,650 hospices, the most in the nation; six of the ten most-served counties are in Southern California.
Source: CMS Provider Data Catalog, May 2026 refresh (2026).
California
How many hospices are in California?
California has 2,062 Medicare-certified hospices, more than any other state, serving all 58 counties.
Source: CMS Provider Data Catalog, May 2026 refresh (2026).
How for-profit is the California hospice market?
82.9% of California hospices are for-profit (against 69.2% nationally), with only 51 nonprofits statewide.
Source: CMS Provider Data Catalog, May 2026 refresh (2026).
How much of the new-hospice wave is in California?
62.7% of California hospices were certified in 2020 or later, and California alone accounts for 48.0% of every new US hospice since 2020.
Source: CMS Provider Data Catalog, May 2026 refresh (2026).
What share of California hospices have a quality rating?
Only 8.1% of California hospices carry a CAHPS star rating, against 30.3% nationally, the second-lowest of any state or territory with more than a handful of providers.
Source: CMS Provider Data Catalog, CAHPS Hospice Survey, May 2026 refresh (2026).
How many California hospices have a verified state license?
87.2% of California's Medicare-certified hospices match an active CDPH license in the June 2026 extract; the state removes non-active facilities from its consumer lookup entirely.
Source: California Department of Public Health (CDPH) ELMS extract, June 15, 2026.