How many pharmacies are in the US: DEA, Census and network counts, chains and independents, and the free lists

This page is for anyone who needs the number of pharmacies in the US, and for companies that sell to them: pharmacy software and automation, adherence packaging, wholesalers and generic suppliers, clinical services platforms, store fixtures and refrigeration, staffing and compliance services. It sets out each official count and why they differ, shows how the number has changed by year and state, splits chains from independents, and shows where to get the list.

How many pharmacies there are in the US

Why the counts differ

• In-store pharmacies are counted under their store. The Census Bureau classifies each location by its main activity, so a pharmacy inside a supermarket or a big-box store is counted as part of a grocery or general merchandise store, not as a pharmacy. Kroger alone runs 2,250 pharmacies and Albertsons 1,713, which Census counts as part of their supermarkets.
• The DEA counts every dispensing location. Federal rules require a separate DEA registration for each location that dispenses controlled substances (21 CFR 1301.12), whatever kind of store it sits in, so the DEA count is the closest thing to a national count of pharmacy locations.
• Networks count contracts. CVS's figure is the pharmacies its benefit manager contracts with. A PBM's "independent" pharmacies include small regional chains, so its split isn't the same as single-store ownership.
• Hospital pharmacies are separate. The DEA registers hospitals and clinics under a different business activity, and Census counts them as part of the hospital.

How the count has changed

The count fell by 5,053 (7.3%) between September 2021 and September 2025, most of it in the last two years, then rose by 872 in the year to September 2026. Walgreens, which reported 8,560 US retail and healthcare locations at August 31, 2024 in its last 10-K, was taken private on August 28, 2025 and no longer files with the SEC.

Pharmacies by state

Registrations fell in 40 of the 50 states and DC between September 2021 and September 2026. Puerto Rico has 1,102 registered pharmacies.

Chains and independents

The Census Bureau's 2022 Statistics of US Businesses sizes each pharmacy company by its total employment:

Among stand-alone pharmacies, the market splits about evenly: 90 large companies run half the stores, while 16,724 small firms run 17,024, nearly one pharmacy each. Add the in-store pharmacies at grocers and mass merchants, mostly run by chains, and chains hold the majority of locations.

The largest operators report their counts in their filings:

How to get a list of pharmacies

Start with the NPPES download, filtered to organizations with the community/retail pharmacy taxonomy in your states. The registry keeps records for pharmacies that have closed unless they deactivate their NPI, so check each against the state board's license status before you contact it.

Who buys inside a pharmacy

As general guidance, the buyer depends on ownership and on what you sell:

Independents decide fast and buy one store at a time; chains decide slowly, after a pilot, and buy for hundreds of stores.

Worked example: adherence packaging in Pennsylvania

Illustrative example. The company and its rates are invented; the counts come from the DEA (September 2026) and the Census Bureau's 2022 SUSB.

The seller: Keystone Pack (keystone-pack.example) sells machines that sort a patient's medications into dated pouches. The territory: Pennsylvania, with 2,359 DEA-registered pharmacies.

1. Size the independent market. In 2022, 670 Pennsylvania pharmacy firms with fewer than 20 employees ran 679 stand-alone pharmacies, while 18 companies with 500 or more employees ran 1,140.
2. Build the list. Pull Pennsylvania organizations with the community/retail pharmacy taxonomy from the NPPES file, remove the chains, and confirm each license is active with the state board.
3. Find the buyer. The NPPES record names an authorized official for each pharmacy, often the owner. Check who owns several stores, since a small group decides for all of them.
4. Do the arithmetic. If an illustrative 25% of about 680 independents serve enough patients on many medications to justify a machine, that's 170 pharmacies. If 10% agree to a trial and a third of those buy at an illustrative $14,000, that's about 6 machines and $84,000.

Finding which independents are growing (a new long-term care contract, a second store) and who owns them is the slow part; Bebop finds the pharmacies and contacts and researches each account in a list.

Next step: for how retail chains buy, see selling to retailers.