diff --git a/lib/controllers/v1/observations_controller.js b/lib/controllers/v1/observations_controller.js
index dc15db72..97519c52 100644
--- a/lib/controllers/v1/observations_controller.js
+++ b/lib/controllers/v1/observations_controller.js
@@ -363,6 +363,11 @@ ObservationsController.prepareElasticDataForResponse = ( data, req ) => {
   } else if ( req.inat && req.inat.impliedBounds ) {
     response.total_bounds = req.inat.impliedBounds;
   }
+  if ( data.aggregations?.by_place ) {
+    response.aggregations = {
+      by_place: data.aggregations.by_place
+    };
+  }
   response.page = Number( req.elastic_query.page );
   response.per_page = Number( req.elastic_query.per_page );
   response.results = obs;
@@ -406,11 +411,67 @@ ObservationsController.speciesCountsCacheWrapper = async req => (
     "ObservationsController.speciesCounts" )
 );
 
+ObservationsController.placesCountsCacheWrapper = async req => (
+  ObservationsController.methodCacheWrapper( req,
+    ObservationsController.placesCounts,
+    "ObservationsController.placesCounts" )
+);
+
 ObservationsController.speciesCounts = async req => {
   const leafCounts = await ObservationsController.leafCounts( req );
   return TaxaController.speciesCountsResponse( req, leafCounts );
 };
 
+ObservationsController.placesCounts = async ( req, options = {} ) => {
+  const page = parseInt( req.query.page || 1, 10 );
+  const perPage = parseInt( req.query.per_page || 30, 10 );
+  const offset = ( page - 1 ) * perPage;
+  const order = req.query.order === "asc" ? "asc" : "desc";
+
+  req.query.aggs = {
+    by_place: {
+      terms: {
+        field: "place_ids",
+        size: 1000,
+        order: { _count: order }
+      }
+    }
+  };
+  req.query.per_page = 0;
+
+  const data = await ObservationsController.resultsForRequest( req, options );
+  const buckets = data.aggregations?.by_place?.buckets || [];
+
+  const places = await Promise.all(
+    buckets.map( bucket => Place.findByID( bucket.key, {
+      fields: ["id", "name", "display_name"]
+    } ) )
+  );
+
+  const results = places
+    .map( ( place, i ) => {
+      if ( !place ) return null;
+      return {
+        count: buckets[i].doc_count,
+        place: {
+          id: place.id,
+          name: place.name,
+          display_name: place.display_name
+        }
+      };
+    } )
+    .filter( Boolean );
+
+  const paginated = results.slice( offset, offset + perPage );
+
+  return {
+    total_results: results.length,
+    page,
+    per_page: perPage,
+    results: paginated
+  };
+};
+
 ObservationsController.taxa = async req => {
   if ( !req.query.user_id ) {
     throw new Error( 422 );
diff --git a/lib/inaturalist_api.js b/lib/inaturalist_api.js
index b51fd2ad..127880f0 100644
--- a/lib/inaturalist_api.js
+++ b/lib/inaturalist_api.js
@@ -298,6 +298,9 @@ InaturalistAPI.server = async ( ) => {
   dfault( "get", "/v1/observations/species_counts", ObservationsController.speciesCountsCacheWrapper, {
     setTTL: true
   } );
+  dfault( "get", "/v1/observations/place_counts", ObservationsController.placesCountsCacheWrapper, {
+    setTTL: true
+  } );
   dfault( "get", "/v1/observations/taxa_counts_by_month", ObservationsController.taxaCountsByMonth, {
     setTTL: true
   } );
diff --git a/lib/views/swagger_v1.yml.ejs b/lib/views/swagger_v1.yml.ejs
index a877ded9..d34a175f 100644
--- a/lib/views/swagger_v1.yml.ejs
+++ b/lib/views/swagger_v1.yml.ejs
@@ -1043,6 +1043,29 @@ paths:
           description: Unexpected error
           schema:
             $ref: "#/definitions/Error"
+  /observations/place_counts:
+    get:
+      summary: Observation Place Counts
+      description: |
+        Given zero to many of the following parameters, returns the number of observations matching
+        the search criteria, grouped by place. Each result includes the place and the count of 
+        associated observations. This endpoint works similarly to `/observations`, but instead of 
+        returning individual observations, it returns aggregated results per place. A
+        maximum of 1000 results will be returned
+      parameters:
+      <%- include( "_observation_search_params_v1.yml.ejs", { type: "index" } ) %>
+      tags:
+        - Observations
+      responses:
+        200:
+          description: |
+            Returns an object with metadata and an array of taxa
+          schema:
+            $ref: "#/definitions/PlacesCountsResponse"
+        default:
+          description: Unexpected error
+          schema:
+            $ref: "#/definitions/Error"
   /observations/popular_field_values:
     get:
       summary: Observation Popular Field Values
@@ -4416,6 +4439,21 @@ definitions:
                   type: integer
                 taxon:
                   $ref: "#/definitions/ShowTaxon"
+  PlacesCountsResponse:
+    allOf:
+      - $ref: "#/definitions/BaseResponse"
+      - required:
+        - results
+        properties:
+          results:
+            type: array
+            items:
+              type: object
+              properties:
+                count:
+                  type: integer
+                place:
+                  $ref: "#/definitions/CorePlace"
   PlacesResponse:
     allOf:
       - $ref: "#/definitions/BaseResponse"
diff --git a/schema/fixtures.js b/schema/fixtures.js
index 84c1b1eb..3232da07 100644
--- a/schema/fixtures.js
+++ b/schema/fixtures.js
@@ -99,6 +99,7 @@
           "name": "United States",
           "slug": "united-states",
           "display_name_autocomplete": "United States",
+          "display_name": "United States",
           "location": "48.8907012939,-116.9820022583",
           "admin_level": 0,
           "bbox_area": 5500,
diff --git a/test/integration/v1/observations.js b/test/integration/v1/observations.js
index 7e03ad8a..9bf83e86 100644
--- a/test/integration/v1/observations.js
+++ b/test/integration/v1/observations.js
@@ -1409,6 +1409,45 @@ describe( "Observations", ( ) => {
     } );
   } );
 
+  describe( "place_counts", ( ) => {
+    it( "returns JSON", function ( done ) {
+      request( this.app ).get( "/v1/observations/place_counts?order=desc&order_by=created_at" )
+        .expect( "Content-Type", /json/ )
+        .expect( 200, done );
+    } );
+
+    it( "sorts by count desc by default", function ( done ) {
+      request( this.app ).get( "/v1/observations/place_counts?order=desc&order_by=created_at" ).expect( res => {
+        expect( res.body.results.length ).to.be.greaterThan( 1 );
+        expect( res.body.results[0].count ).to.be.at.least( res.body.results[1].count );
+      } ).expect( 200, done );
+    } );
+
+    it( "can sort by count asc", function ( done ) {
+      request( this.app ).get( "/v1/observations/place_counts?order=asc&order_by=created_at" ).expect( res => {
+        expect( res.body.results.length ).to.be.greaterThan( 1 );
+        expect( res.body.results[1].count ).to.be.at.least( res.body.results[0].count );
+      } ).expect( 200, done );
+    } );
+
+    it( "supports pagination", function ( done ) {
+      request( this.app ).get( "/v1/observations/place_counts?order=desc&order_by=created_at&per_page=1&page=2" ).expect( res => {
+        expect( res.body.page ).to.eq( 2 );
+        expect( res.body.per_page ).to.eq( 1 );
+      } ).expect( 200, done );
+    } );
+
+    it( "returns results places counts with expected fields", function ( done ) {
+      request( this.app ).get( "/v1/observations/place_counts?order=desc&order_by=created_at" ).expect( res => {
+        const result = res.body.results[0];
+        expect( result ).to.have.property( "count" );
+        expect( result.place ).to.have.property( "id" );
+        expect( result.place ).to.have.property( "name" );
+        expect( result.place ).to.have.property( "display_name" );
+      } ).expect( 200, done );
+    } );
+  } );
+
   describe( "iconic_taxa_counts", ( ) => {
     it( "returns json", function ( done ) {
       request( this.app ).get( "/v1/observations/iconic_taxa_counts" )