ALW enrollment and waitlist, March 2026 figures

The current figures and every earlier month are on the ALW waitlist tracker.

What changed

DHCS's enrollment and waitlist file, posted in July 2026, gives these statewide counts of people:

In March 2026, 15,910 people were on California's ALW waitlist and 14,831 were enrolled, according to DHCS. The waitlist fell from 20,262 in February, the first monthly drop since May 2025. In May 2025 it went from 11,973 in April to 11,927. The file does not say why the count changed.

The waitlist was still longer than the number of people enrolled in March 2026. When Beta last checked, on October 5, 2026, DHCS had published no ALW figures for any month after March 2026.

Note added October 16, 2026: At a Senate budget hearing on August 12, 2026, DHCS said 17,886 people were on the ALW waitlist and 14,495 were enrolled. Those figures come from testimony, not from the monthly file, which still ends at March 2026. Read what DHCS told the Senate.

The whole series, every month from January 2019 to March 2026, is on the waitlist tracker, with a chart and CSV and JSON downloads.

Who it affects

Anyone on the waitlist or thinking about applying, and the professionals who advise them.

What to do

The counts do not say how long any one person waits. The state holds one master waitlist and releases openings in priority order, when the state releases capacity. Beta cannot predict the wait or move anyone up the list. Read how the priority groups work and what keeps a request ready.