In plain English
Podiatry is its own doctoral profession with its own colleges, and a podiatrist's degree is a DPM rather than an MD or DO. Training is four years of podiatric medical school followed by a hospital-based residency, typically three years, and the profession is licensed and boarded separately from medicine.
Scope is defined by anatomy rather than by procedure: podiatrists prescribe, order imaging and operate within the foot and ankle, with the upper limit of that territory set by each state. Orthopaedic foot and ankle surgeons cover the same ground from the other direction, which makes those two professions the pair to consider together for anything below the knee.
Diabetic foot and wound care and conditions of the nails and skin of the foot make up much of the volume, and a large share of podiatrists are in independent or small group practice with hospital and surgery centre privileges.
Training and credentials
A bachelor's degree, four years of podiatric medical school for the DPM, a hospital-based residency of about three years, then a state licence.
| Letters | What they mean |
|---|---|
| DPM | Doctor of Podiatric Medicine. |
Where they practise
Independent and group podiatry practices, orthopaedic and multi-specialty groups, hospitals and surgery centres, wound care centres, nursing homes, veterans' facilities.
Podiatrists 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 4,129 | 852 21% | 4,128 |
| California | 3,851 | 924 24% | 3,850 |
| Florida | 3,456 | 741 21% | 3,454 |
| Texas | 2,387 | 579 24% | 2,386 |
| Pennsylvania | 2,316 | 524 23% | 2,316 |
| New Jersey | 2,259 | 422 19% | 2,259 |
| Illinois | 2,175 | 524 24% | 2,175 |
| Ohio | 1,919 | 385 20% | 1,919 |
Closely related, and where to find them.
Closely related
- Orthopedic surgeon Bones, joints and spine - and the device-heavy specialty that owns its own surgery centres.
- Physical therapist Movement and function, doctoral entry, and mostly clinic chains rather than individuals.
- Endocrinologist Hormones, glands and metabolism - and why diabetes care reaches far beyond the specialty.
Find them
- Podiatrists list counts by state, the fields a record carries, a sample record.
- Podiatrists podiatrists and foot and ankle surgeons, by state and practice.
- Podiatrists in New York, NY
- Podiatrists in Los Angeles, CA
- Podiatrists in Houston, TX
- Podiatrists in Miami, FL
- Podiatrists in Chicago, IL
- Podiatrists in Philadelphia, PA
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