In plain English
Pharmacy is a doctoral profession: the PharmD, a national licensing examination and a state law examination, then a state licence. The work runs from community dispensing to hospital clinical pharmacy, where pharmacists dose and monitor therapy as part of the care team.
Authority has widened. Pharmacists immunise in every state, and many can initiate or adjust defined therapies under collaborative practice agreements or state protocols. Board certification in areas such as ambulatory care, oncology and infectious disease marks the clinical end of the profession.
People and organisations must be kept apart in any pharmacy list. A pharmacist is an individual with a licence; a pharmacy is an organisation with its own identifier, its own address and usually a chain behind it. They are separate populations, filed separately, and confusing them is the commonest error in this market.
Training and credentials
Pre-pharmacy coursework, a four-year Doctor of Pharmacy program, national and state law licensing examinations, and a residency for most clinical hospital roles.
| Letters | What they mean |
|---|---|
| PharmD | Doctor of Pharmacy - the degree required for licensure today. |
| RPh | Registered pharmacist - the licence, held by some with an older bachelor's degree. |
| BCPS | One of several board certifications marking an advanced clinical specialty. |
Where they practise
Community and chain pharmacies, hospital and health-system pharmacy, specialty and infusion pharmacy, long-term care and nuclear pharmacy, managed care and industry.
Pharmacists on the public record
Counted from what providers file about themselves, with suppression applied before anything is counted, refreshed 2026-10-05. Names, specialties and practice locations are public; work email and phone are for signed-in customers.
| State | On record | With work email | With practice phone |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 36,646 | 35,474 97% | 36,637 |
| New York | 24,753 | 24,025 97% | 24,750 |
| Florida | 21,465 | 20,617 96% | 21,459 |
| Texas | 21,451 | 20,655 96% | 21,445 |
| Pennsylvania | 14,522 | 13,972 96% | 14,521 |
| Ohio | 12,875 | 12,423 96% | 12,871 |
| North Carolina | 10,980 | 10,564 96% | 10,977 |
| Illinois | 10,959 | 10,551 96% | 10,957 |
Closely related, and where to find them.
Closely related
- Nurse practitioner An advanced practice nurse who diagnoses and prescribes - within the scope the state allows.
- Physician assistant A generalist-trained licensed clinician who specialises by employment, and prescribes.
- Registered nurse The largest healthcare profession, and what an identifier on the record does and does not mean.
Find them
- Pharmacists list counts by state, the fields a record carries, a sample record.
- Pharmacists pharmacists and the pharmacies they dispense from, people and organizations kept apart.
- Pharmacists in New York, NY
- Pharmacists in Los Angeles, CA
- Pharmacists in Houston, TX
- Pharmacists in Miami, FL
- Pharmacists in Chicago, IL
- Pharmacists in Philadelphia, PA
Need the list, not the definition?
A free account builds this population with your own filters and shows what each record carries before anything is bought.