Hawaii tied for the worst access to mental health treatment facilities in the country in 2025.

The Aloha State has 1.8 facilities per 100,000 residents

from Autism360.com, September, 2026 

As access to mental health treatment facilities becomes increasingly important for Americans, a new study has revealed that Hawaii tied for the worst access to mental health treatment facilities in America in 2025.

The study, conducted by autism therapy experts Autism 360, used the latest data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the U.S. Census Bureau to identify which states and counties had the best access to mental health treatment facilities in 2025.

The SAMHSA directory records licensed and state-recognized mental health treatment facilities, such as clinics, hospitals, and community treatment programs. It does not count individual practitioners in independent private practice, so the study measures the reach of formal treatment facilities rather than the availability of every therapist or counselor in an area.

The study found the average distance residents of an area needed to travel to reach their nearest mental health facility, and the number of facilities per 100,000 residents in an area. Each area was given a percentile score for each of these figures; then the average of these provided the access score out of 100 for the ranking.

Alabama and Hawaii both scored the study’s lowest for states, with scores of 9.8 out of 100 each.

Alabama residents only had access to 2.4 facilities per 100,000 residents, and had to travel 9.5 miles to their nearest facility.

Hawaii residents had to travel 8.4 miles to their nearest facility on average, and had access to even fewer facilities per 100,000 residents, at 1.8….

Utah had America’s best access to mental health treatment facilities in 2025, scoring 97.1 out of 100 for overall access. This came from the Beehive State recording an average travel distance of 2.5 miles for residents to reach their nearest mental health facility, and having 10.6 mental health facilities per 100,000 residents. Utah’s rate of facilities per 100,000 people scored in the 98th percentile among states, and its average travel distance was in the 96th percentile among states.

Ash Bhattacharya, CEO and Cofounder of Autism 360, said:

“Many things make up how accessible mental healthcare is, such as cost and type of care provided, but how far someone has to travel can make or break whether someone accesses care or not. More than 1 in 10 people with severe psychological distress reported delaying seeking care because a clinic was not open when they could get there, and more than 1 in 9 people reported delaying because they did not have transportation.

“With this in mind, it’s concerning to see that Hawaii scored so poorly for both registered facilities per 100,000 residents and the average travel distance to the nearest registered facility. While not every mental health access point is recorded by SAMHSA’s survey, a low facility supply does indicate that intensive mental healthcare and treatment might be harder to come by in Hawaii than in other areas of the country. This could mean that residents have to search outside their local area to find the most intensive care if their local facilities are at capacity, which could mean moving away from their support network at a vulnerable time in their life to access the care they need.

“In our work at Autism 360, we’ve found that removing barriers to healthcare provides excellent results. Letting families access care at home whenever they need it makes it so much easier to achieve positive health outcomes, and this is especially so for people who have autism.”

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