A Mission Connection study analyzing five-years of county health data has identified Copiah County as one of the top two performing counties in Mississippi for growth in mental health providers. Copiah and Perry counties each grew by 800 percent over the five-year period.

Access to health care is about more than financial coverage. It is also about having access to the right providers. As of December 2023, more than 168 million people were living in areas of the nation officially recognized as having a shortage of mental health professionals.

Many individuals struggle to find in-network providers, and significant cost differences exist between primary care and mental health care. Those barriers make the provider shortage worse, leaving millions without the mental health support they need.

Mississippi’s other top-five performing counties were Scott and Jefferson, each increasing by 300 percent, and Simpson, which increased by 288 percent. The counties at the other end of the spectrum performed very poorly. Calhoun and Marshall had no increase, and three counties suffered provider losses — Pontotoc, -8 percent; Claiborne, -25 percent; and Quitman, -33 percent.

Nationwide, Mississippi ranks 14^th. Across five years, the number of mental health care providers in the state has increased from 4,752 to 6,352 — 34 percent. The five states that performed the best overall were Alabama, 39 percent; Arizona, 40 percent; Virginia, 42 percent; Texas, 44 percent; and Alaska, at a staggering 66 percent increase. The five states that increased the least were Arkansas, 17 percent; New Mexico and Wyoming, 15 percent; Louisiana, 12 percent; and Oklahoma, 8 percent.

“Our study highlights the stark disparities in mental health care access across the United States,” says Ashley Pena, Executive Director at Mission Connection. “While some areas have made tremendous progress in expanding provider availability, others are falling further behind, leaving thousands without critical support. These findings underscore the urgent need for targeted investments, innovative solutions like telehealth, and robust policy reforms to ensure that every community, regardless of its location, has access to the mental health care it deserves.”