The United States is expected to face a shortage of between 42,600 and 121,300 physicians by the end of the next decade, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. But the physician shortage is most prominent in rural areas, which accounted for nearly 60% of the nation’s more than 7,200 areas lacking adequate health care. Experts predict America’s aging population will increase the demand for medical care, while the supply of physicians will drop, given that a third of doctors currently practicing will be older than 65 by 2030 and might decide to retire.

As millenials come in and boomers go out, rural states can be a tough sell to doctors who want to relocate. Most doctors are seeking out states with larger population centers, more enrichment and educational opportunities. As a result, Wyoming, Montana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Arkansas are states that are having a tough time getting physicians to the communities where they are needed most, places with wide open spaces and low populations. Another reason for the shortage of doctors? There are no medical schools at their public universities.

There are many challenges to the widespread doctor shortage and ongoing need for those who carry a physician license in rural states.  This is in part because most graduating doctors often end up choosing to practice medicine in the state where they attended school. For states like without their own state medical school this issue is significant, leading the healthcare industry to consider what can be done to better encourage doctors to practice outside of metropolitan areas. The many advantages to living in rural states such as beautiful weather, low fuel prices, excellent medical services and low crime rates often get overlooked. The cost of housing and other essentials is also fairly reasonable.