The 20 Worst Cities to Practice Podiatry In

20. Columbus, Ohio – Columbus has a population of 787,033 people, somewhat inflated due to the largeness of the area of the city.  Columbus biggest downfall is the ratio of one podiatrist for every 30,000 people, which is not a great ratio.  The ratio is most likely not to get any better due to the fact the city is so closely located to Cleveland (OCPM) only a hour and half drive.  Additionally there are two residencies in Columbus each graduating six residents a year, so there is constant opportunity for multiple new practitioners to stay in the area and practice.  The residencies however are well run and the residents graduate well-trained.

19. Seattle, Washington – Seattle is the 17th richest city in the country as well as the largest in the northwest.How could it be rated so low?  I mean it is not even near a podiatry school (well at least yet the way they are opening).  Why did I rate it so low? Because of the rain? Because they lost the Sonics? No.  For whatever reason Seattle has a ratio of 1 podiatrist for very 34,000 people, which isn’t good.
Seattle has a population of about 600000, and in an interesting fact that has nothing to do with podiatry. It is the most expensive city to buy a house in compared to income levels according to Forbes 1995.  Seattle has one residency program which is extremely respectable the former Northwest surgical program now named Swedish medical center graduating two residents a year.  So why the low ratio? Great question I don’t know but it is what it is.

18. San Francisco, California – The number 18th worst city to practice podiatry in is San Francisco, which is actually pretty good considering there is a school there. Essentially you have a school which is causing about 100 prospective podiatrists every year to spend four years there to intermingle and develop roots and want to stay. So the fact that San Francisco’s ratio is 1:31,000 is actually very impressive. This is before we talk about the multiple residencies. So while being on the worst list is bad, it’s the best rated of any city with a school in it.

17. Miami, Florida – The 17th worst city to practice podiatry in is……HOME of Barry University, Miami. Again as we stated with San Francisco, this is actually a good ranking. When you consider that there is a school there and that it ranks 17th, that is a good sign. The ratio is a very manageable of 1:34,000 which is decent. Miami also has the advantage of having one of the older populations in the country.
Now some of the negatives that Miami has is in addition to the schools you have multiple residencies (which I am not going to list cause I am lazy trust me there are a lot of them). There are also many practices a lot of them groups and individuals which are too numerous to list. Miami also suffers from a poverty rate of 12.7% and 21% of the population does not have health insurance.

16. Washington, D.C. -Washington D.C……Ah the home of current president, and the nation’s capitol, but coming in as the 16th president. Now the city’s population is about 600,000 and swells to over a million during the day based on commuters. So that information must be used in consideration when I state that the ratio of podiatrists : population in the city is 1:29,000. Which is not a good ratio. Now clearly it is effected by the cities proximity to both NYC and Philadelphia schools. The city proper of D.C does have poverty issue of a rate of 11.8%. There is a residency program at Washington Hospital Center which is a three year training contributing three residents a year. Additionally there is the traditionally strong program of Northern Virginia which is nearby as well contributing further residents to the area.

15. Denver, Colorado – The 16th most populous city is the 15th worst city to practice podiatry in… Denver Colorado. Some would wonder with Denver’s distance from podiatry school. Remember the new ones out west just recently opened. The relative dearth of residency programs it would be so low, but it is. Denver inexplicably has a 1:33,000 ratio of podiatrist to people. Denver boasts 18.2% of its population which carry no health insurance coverage of any kind, which is a severe detriment to practicing there. There is a residency program at the Eastern VA of Denver which graduates two residents a year. As well as a three year at Denver Presbyterian, which graduates two residents a year and additionally has an impressive website: http://www.highlandspsl.com/historyOfPrograms.htm.
Denver does not appear to have a dominant Podiatric group for a city of its size but does posses many single and dual practices.

14. Phoenix, Arizona – How is the 12th largest city in the United States Phoenix so low in the rankings? Well to be honest it’s going to get worse in Phoenix. Yes I am aware of the population explosion (in fairness I will not mention the severe water issues they will be facing in the future). The problem is Phoenix is getting worse, the ratio is 1:31,000 people to population ratio. With the school opening in the area it’s only going to get worse. There are multiple strong residency programs opened in Phoenix as well as multiple Podiatric practices. It would be hard to list them all, plus I’m lazy.

13. Salt Lake City, Utah – Salt Lake City, No this is not anti-mormon. Anyways Salt Lake City is a beautiful place to live and I watched the Olympics here. Why is SLC so low? Simple Mormons…I kid. The reason is a podiatrist to person ratio of 1:29,000. The most likely reason for the low ratio is the desire of mormon podiatrists to practice in the city. The dominant Podiatric group in Salt Lake City appears to be Advanced Foot and Ankle, which has five doctors and seven locations through the Salt Lake City area. The Intermountain Medical Center/VA program is the Podiatric residency in the area graduating multiple residents every year. For further information on the residency program : http://imcpodiatryresidencyprogram.wordpress.com/.

12. Mystery City

11. St. Louis, Missouri – The eleventh worst city to practice podiatry in is……St Louis. The city by the river with the arch. They love their Cardinals and a lot of DPMs like to practice there. This leads to a podiatrist to population ratio of 1:30,000. Combine the poor ratio with 18.1% of the population having no health insurance and you get the 11th worst city to practice podiatry.There are a couple groups in St. Louis one is Foothealers which has four locations and three doctors. There does not appear to be any other groups of significant size in the area. There is a PMHSS 36 residency that you can see about here: http://www.ssmhealth.com/depaul/OurClinicalServices/allservices/Podiatry_Residency/Pages/Podiatry_Residency.aspx
So while there are not residencies and huge groups, St Louis still earns the moniker of 11th worst city to practice podiatry.

10. Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida – Tampa/ St. Petersburg the city so nice they named it twice. You are probably wondering how Florida could have cities in the best and worst cities to practice with. There is a dichotomy. Florida is probably one of, if not the most interesting state for podiatry right now. You have multiple forces converging on the state at this time: a malpractice crisis (Florida is one of if not the worst), every podiatrist thinks you go to Florida because that is where the old people live. That is a true statement but lots of podiatrists do go to Florida which has contributed to the glut there. This helps explain why Tampa/ St Pete has 1:28,000 podiatrist to people ratio which is 11,000 less than Orlando. It would be hard to ascertain the reason for the difference in the city considering that Orlando posses a powerful residency program. Additionally Tampa has been hit by the economy a great deal with a 10.5% Unemployment. While Tampa may no feature a residency it does feature one of the bigger Podiatric groups in the county featuring 14 doctors and ten locations called the Ankle and Foot Centers of Tampa. So Tampa is definitely an interesting place to practice podiatry and probably deserves further investigation.

9. Cincinnati, Ohio – Cincinnati, home of the Reds and right across the river from one of the best cities to practice podiatry in (foreshadowing). Cincinnati, based on its proximity to OCPM and multiple residency programs, has a 1:29,000 ratio of podiatrists to population as well as unusually high poverty rate of 11.2%. Cincinnati boasts a couple of significantly big Podiatric groups. Podiatry Associates of Cincinnati has six doctors and three locations. The Center for Foot and Ankle Care boasts 13 podiatrists and 17 locations, making it one of the bigger Podiatric groups in the country. Additionally there is Foot and Ankle specialists which boasts six doctors and seven locations in the area. The residency is the long standing Cincinnati Jewish Hospital residency which you can find out info here :http://www.jewishhospitalcincinnati.com/Residencypodiatry/index.html.

8. New York City, New York – New York City, the biggest city of them all. Actually this is not that low when you consider that the city has school and the city has by far the most Podiatric residencies of any other city, so really this is actually a fairly good ranking for it. New York City posts a less then desirable 1:28,000 ratio, however, as I explained previously with all the other factors that is actually pretty good.
On the downside it has this guy:http://www.oginski-law.com/blog/gerry-oginski-wins-15-million-verdict-in-podiatry-malpractice-case.cfm
I am not however going to list all the practice and residencies, there are a ton.

7. Milwaukee, Wisconsin – Milwaukee, Wisonsin. Yes, the cheese heads. I can only imagine the shock that they are on the list and do so poorly. But if you think about it they are one hour and half from a School and the many residencies of Chicago, additionally they are a midwestern town with a decreasing industrial base and thus a decreasing population with a replenishing podiatry population. Something to consider when choosing a city to practice: consider the demographics; will more podiatrists come and is the population going to increase to deal with them. Milwaukee has a poor ratio of 1 podiatrist for every 23,000 people, which we have documented the factors for earlier. The poverty rate is 10.4% with a below national average unemployment of 8.0%. A positive factor is Milwaukee has a very low malpractice rate and thus insurance is inexpensive in the area compared to other locations.
As for groups there is Milwaukee foot specialists which offer five locations and six doctors as well as Great Lakes foot and ankle centers which offers three doctors and three locations. As for residencies there is the St Joseph’s residency program which further can be read about here :http://www.saintjosephresidency.com/podiatryprog/faculty.shtml. The residency program graduates three residents a year.

6. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – Pittsburgh obviously it is hurt by its proximity to the college as well as having three residency programs graduating about 8 residents a year. However, Pittsburgh as a city is doing quite well financially with an unemployment rate of only 6.9% and only 7.6% of the population does not have health insurance. So there are always going to be lots of podiatrists in Pittsburgh, its a location thing. But if you can stomach the competition it’s not that bad of a place to practice. However it does have a poor podiatrist to person ratio of 1:23,000. Pittsburgh boasts both the West Penn and UPMC podiatry residencies and has multiple groups. I will not break it down further due to perceived bias on my part.

5. Buffalo, New York – Buffalo, haven’t they been picked on enough? First Norwood, now this, where is the justice? Buffalo is just two hours from Cleveland and has a decreasing population. Essentially Buffalo’s problems are the same as Pittsburgh, Erie, Cincinnati, Columbus; they are close to OCPM. Anyhow, Buffalo has a very poor 1:20,000 podiatrist to people ratio. There is a Podiatric residency that graduates three residents a year you can read further here: http://www.chsbuffalo.org/GME/PodiatricMedicine/Salary One of the larger groups in Buffalo is Podiatry Affiliated which has five doctors and five locations.

4. Detroit, Michigan – Detroit has a ratio of 1 podiatrist for 22,000 people which is actually better than Pittsburgh. However the economic crisis has decimated Detroit. While there is talk of a Detroit comeback one must remember how far it fell. Detroit has a poverty rate of 13.4% and an unemployment of 11.6% but not ideal. There are many groups in and around Detroit to numerous to list.

3. Baltimore, Maryland – Baltimore. This is definitely surprising that Baltimore would be placed so low. I guess the reason must be to its close proximity to Philadelphia, NYC and Cleveland. Baltimore has a very low ratio of 1:16,000 ratio with a poverty ratio of 12.1%. That is an extremely poor ratio, combined with just a horrid ratio. The dominant podiatry in Baltimore is Associated Podiatrists with 14 podiatrists and 7 locations. Additionally you have the Baltimore Podiatry Group which has 6 doctors and multiple offices.

2. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – Philadelphia….and the reason is the the school and the many residencies. It is a fact of life, I am not picking on the schools. They have to be somewhere. You cannot exactly put them on an oil rig. Basically Philadelphia has a 1:19,000 ratio which is really not good, there is no sugar coating it and there is not discernible scenario where it improves. Listen, if you want to live in a city with a school, you can still make it, just expect a ton of competition. It is a fact of life. As for the residencies and groups it would take forever to list so check them out yourself.

1. Cleveland, Ohio –  Cleveland…and to be honest its not even close:

Poor city:check

Horrible ratio of podiatrist to people: check 1:16,000

Horrible economy: check 13.7% poverty rate just rated one of the ten poorest cities in the United States: check

School and Residencies constantly graduating podiatrists: check

Essentially you can quibble with other rankings and ratings on the list. You cannot quibble with Cleveland being the worst. Now is Youngstown, Erie or Akron possibly even worse then Cleveland? Yes. But they did not have enough population to qualify for this study. Can you make a living in Cleveland? Yes people do; podiatrists do. Just be prepared and be aware. On the bright side you can get cheap CMEs and Major League was a good movie.

There are the school residencies as well as multiple groups but no big groups of more then four doctors. Mostly groups stay away from Cleveland due to all the podiatrists present there. The residencies are St Vincent’s (Dr Yu’s old residencies), which graduates 2 residents a year, as well as Kaiser, the VA, the School, and the Cleveland Clinic all graduating multiple podiatrists.