Accountant Shortage Index: The States Facing America's Worst Accountant Shortage

America's accounting profession is contracting. 

Across dozens of states, the number of active practitioners has failed to keep pace with population growth, leaving businesses and individuals competing for a shrinking pool of financial professionals. In Nevada, there are 139 professionally prepared tax returns for every accountant. In Washington, D.C., that figure is 16.

Sam's List analyzed Bureau of Labor Statistics employment data, IRS practitioner-filed return records, and 2025 Census population estimates across all 50 states and Washington, D.C. to produce the Accountant Shortage Index, which ranks each jurisdiction by the severity of its supply gap.

Key findings:

• The national average is approximately 4.2 accountants per 1,000 residents and 59 professionally prepared returns for every accountant.
• Nevada is the most accountant-starved state in the country, with just 1.75 accountants per 1,000 residents and 139 professionally prepared returns for every accountant, the highest ratio in the study.
• Texas carries the largest absolute shortfall, with an estimated 24,746 more accountants needed to meet current demand.
• Washington, D.C. leads all jurisdictions in supply, with 13.84 accountants per 1,000 residents and just 16 professionally prepared returns per accountant. Massachusetts and South Dakota follow, both at 6.36 per 1,000.
• Eight jurisdictions lost accountants between 2019 and 2024, with Nevada's workforce falling the furthest, down 29.5%. Utah grew the most, adding 61.4% to its accounting workforce over the same period.
• The share of returns filed through a professional preparer runs from 43% in Washington state to 69% in New Jersey.

The states with the worst shortages

Nevada ranks first on the index by a clear margin. With just 5,740 accountants serving 3.28 million residents, the state has a ratio of 1.75 per 1,000, the lowest in the country. That translates to 139 professionally prepared returns for every accountant, more than twice the national average of 59 and nearly nine times the figure in Washington, D.C.

Mississippi (#2), Arkansas (#3), Kentucky (#4), and South Carolina (#5) round out the bottom five. None of the four records more than 2.75 accountants per 1,000 residents. Mississippi has 97 professionally prepared returns for every accountant. In Arkansas, that figure is 91.

Nine of the ten most shortage-stricken states sit in the South or Mountain West. Maine is the exception, ranking seventh: its 4,020 accountants serve 1.41 million residents, with 82 professionally prepared returns for every accountant.

 

Rank	State	Accountants per 1,000	Practitioner Returns per Accountant	Shortage Gap	Change % (2019-24)	Practitioner Filing %
1	Nevada	1.75	139	8,159	-29.5%	55%
2	Mississippi	2.35	97	5,569	+20.1%	58%
3	Arkansas	2.48	91	5,480	+3.6%	58%
4	Kentucky	2.64	89	7,328	+0.8%	57%
5	South Carolina	2.74	81	8,338	-4.6%	53%
6	Idaho	2.75	78	3,005	+41.9%	53%
7	Maine	2.84	82	1,971	-8.4%	50%
8	Louisiana	2.94	75	5,996	+13.2%	57%
9	West Virginia	3.01	66	2,169	+24.9%	48%
10	New Mexico	3.13	67	2,340	+11.9%	49%

 

The professional filing rate across the ten most shortage-stricken states runs from 48% in West Virginia to 58% in Mississippi and Arkansas. In eight of the ten states, at least half of all returns go through a paid preparer, yet the supply of accountants in each falls short of the national baseline.

Texas ranks 13th on the per-capita index but has the largest absolute shortfall of any state. An estimated 24,746 more accountants are needed to meet current demand, roughly 22% more than the existing workforce of 109,530. Texas also shed 4,880 accountants between 2019 and 2024, a 4.3% decline despite a growing population. Florida, with a shortfall of 8,473, ranks second by absolute gap despite growing its accountant count by 27.1% since 2019. Demand simply outpaced supply.

The states with the best supply

Washington, D.C., leads every other jurisdiction by a wide margin. With 9,600 accountants serving a population of just 693,645, it has 13.84 professionals per 1,000 residents, more than double the next-highest rate. The density comes from the concentration of federal agencies, regulatory bodies, and financial services firms in a small geographic area. That leaves just 16 professionally prepared returns for every accountant.

Massachusetts and South Dakota share the next position at 6.36 accountants per 1,000 residents. Colorado follows at 5.92, and Delaware at 5.77. All four states carry negative shortage gaps; the supply in each exceeds the study's demand baseline. New York, despite its volume, has 5.59 accountants per 1,000 residents and a surplus of 27,159 professionals above the national baseline, the largest absolute surplus in the country.

 

Rank	State	Accountants per 1,000	Practitioner Returns per Accountant	Shortage Gap	Change % (2019-24)	Practitioner Filing %
51	DC	13.84	16	-6,663	-9.9%	47%
50	Massachusetts	6.36	44	-15,226	+31.4%	60%
49	South Dakota	6.36	41	-1,990	+25.5%	57%
48	Colorado	5.92	38	-10,120	-4.3%	47%
47	Delaware	5.77	40	-1,632	+23.6%	52%

 

Washington, D.C., and Colorado record the lowest practitioner filing rates among the five best-supplied jurisdictions, each at 47%. Massachusetts, which ties for second on accountant supply, records 60%, the highest of the group and 13 points above its peers at the top of the rankings.

The national picture

Across all 51 jurisdictions, the study finds approximately 1.45 million active accountants serving a combined population of 342 million. That works out to a national average of 4.2 professionals per 1,000 residents. Practitioner-filed electronic returns in fiscal year 2024 totaled approximately 84.6 million across all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Divided across the accounting workforce, that comes to 59 professionally prepared returns for every accountant.

The gap between jurisdictions is wide. Nevada's 1.75 accountants per 1,000 residents is nearly eight times lower than Washington, D.C.'s 13.84. On the practitioner returns ratio, the spread is even more pronounced: Nevada has 139 professionally prepared returns for every accountant, nearly nine times the figure in D.C. Twenty-five of 51 jurisdictions carry a positive shortage gap; in each, current supply falls short of the study's national baseline.

Most of the profession grew between 2019 and 2024. Forty-three of 51 jurisdictions added accountants over the period, but the eight that shrank include some of the states already under the most pressure. Nevada lost nearly three in ten of its accountants over five years. Texas shed 4,880 despite carrying the largest absolute shortfall of any state. Where supply was already thin, it got thinner.

Professional filing rates vary sharply by state. Washington records the lowest rate at 43%, followed by Oregon at 45% and Alaska at 46%. At the upper end, New Jersey leads at 69%, ahead of New York at 68% and California at 65%. States with lower rates cluster in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain West; higher rates are more common in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. Among the most shortage-stricken states, West Virginia and New Mexico have the lowest professional filing rates in the group, at 48% and 49%, respectively. Mississippi and Arkansas both sit at 58%. More than half of all returns in those states go through a paid preparer, even as supply runs well below the national average.

Full state rankings

 

Rank	State	Accountants per 1,000	Practitioner Returns per Accountant	Shortage Gap	Change % (2019-24)	Practitioner Filing %
1	Nevada	1.75	139	8,159	-29.5%	55%
2	Mississippi	2.35	97	5,569	+20.1%	58%
3	Arkansas	2.48	91	5,480	+3.6%	58%
4	Kentucky	2.64	89	7,328	+0.8%	57%
5	South Carolina	2.74	81	8,338	-4.6%	53%
6	Idaho	2.75	78	3,005	+41.9%	53%
7	Maine	2.84	82	1,971	-8.4%	50%
8	Louisiana	2.94	75	5,996	+13.2%	57%
9	West Virginia	3.01	66	2,169	+24.9%	48%
10	New Mexico	3.13	67	2,340	+11.9%	49%
11	Alaska	3.31	60	682	+11.9%	46%
12	Arizona	3.41	60	6,253	+15.9%	50%
13	Texas	3.45	59	24,746	-4.3%	51%
14	Hawaii	3.45	72	1,127	+3.6%	57%
15	Oregon	3.60	57	2,727	+23.8%	45%
16	Indiana	3.63	64	4,249	+20.9%	52%
17	Tennessee	3.68	58	4,086	+19.1%	51%
18	Florida	3.87	68	8,473	+27.1%	59%
19	Georgia	3.98	55	2,862	+22.1%	54%
20	Oklahoma	4.01	52	940	+17.8%	54%
21	Missouri	4.04	58	1,213	-4.5%	54%
22	Maryland	4.09	59	901	+4.4%	54%
23	Montana	4.09	62	167	+38.5%	55%
24	North Carolina	4.15	51	998	+37.5%	51%
25	Pennsylvania	4.17	61	861	+7.0%	56%
26	Wisconsin	4.20	62	232	+11.9%	56%
27	Vermont	4.30	59	-40	+6.1%	52%
28	Illinois	4.30	62	-830	+5.7%	59%
29	Iowa	4.31	64	-257	+37.4%	63%
30	Michigan	4.34	60	-1,023	+24.8%	58%
31	Ohio	4.36	54	-1,447	+9.7%	52%
32	Wyoming	4.38	54	-87	+38.7%	52%
33	California	4.41	67	-6,719	+16.7%	65%
34	Connecticut	4.50	60	-971	+7.4%	59%
35	New Jersey	4.56	69	-3,108	+9.3%	69%
36	Utah	4.67	44	-1,554	+61.4%	51%
37	Washington	4.67	41	-3,519	+15.9%	43%
38	Kansas	4.71	51	-1,423	+10.6%	56%
39	Alabama	4.89	46	-3,430	+46.1%	58%
40	Nebraska	5.00	51	-1,535	+22.2%	56%
41	North Dakota	5.14	50	-725	+8.7%	58%
42	Minnesota	5.21	52	-5,711	+31.0%	58%
43	Rhode Island	5.37	57	-1,261	+26.2%	64%
44	New Hampshire	5.53	41	-1,827	+37.9%	47%
45	New York	5.59	57	-27,159	-0.2%	68%
46	Virginia	5.66	37	-12,617	+19.0%	48%
47	Delaware	5.77	40	-1,632	+23.6%	52%
48	Colorado	5.92	38	-10,120	-4.3%	47%
49	South Dakota	6.36	41	-1,990	+25.5%	57%
50	Massachusetts	6.36	44	-15,226	+31.4%	60%
51	DC	13.84	16	-6,663	-9.9%	47%

 

Methodology

Sam's List compiled accountant employment figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program for 2024 and 2019, covering all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Individual income tax returns filed through authorized practitioners in fiscal year 2024, sourced from IRS electronic filing data published by the IRS Research, Applied Analytics, and Statistics division, were used to calculate a practitioner returns-per-accountant ratio and a practitioner filing rate for each jurisdiction. The practitioner returns-per-accountant ratio measures the volume of returns filed through tax professionals relative to the available accounting workforce in each state and serves as a proxy for professional filing demand, not individual practitioners' caseloads. The practitioner filing rate represents the share of all returns in each state submitted through an authorized e-file provider; self-prepared and paper returns are excluded from both metrics. Population figures are drawn from 2025 U.S. Census estimates. States were ranked using a composite score based on the number of accountants per 1,000 residents and practitioner returns per accountant. The Shortage Gap represents the estimated number of additional accountants each state would require to bring its practitioner returns-per-accountant ratio to the study's national baseline.