How many people have a disability in the ?

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In 2024, about 45.8 million people living in the US had a disability. That’s the equivalent to 13.7% of the US population, or 1 in 7 people. In census data, a person with a disability is someone who reports difficulty with walking or climbing stairs, hearing, vision, self-care, cognition, or independent living.

45.8M

people with a disability in the US (2024)

13.7%

US population with a disability (2024)

How does the federal government determine who has a disability?

How does the federal government determine who has a disability?

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) defines a person with a disability as someone who:

  • has a physical or mental condition that significantly limits one or more major life activities,
  • has a past history or documented record of such a condition (for example, cancer in remission), or
  • is regarded by others as having such a condition, even if it does not currently limit major life activities (for example, someone with visible burn scars).


There is no standard government approach to measuring disability, but in its American Community Survey (ACS), the Census Bureau considers a person with a disability as an individual who self-reports difficulty with walking or climbing stairs, hearing, independent living, vision, self-care, and/or cognition.

Across the United States, the share of people with disabilities has tended to grow over time. This shift could be due to a range of factors, like the nation’s aging population. In 2024, 13.7% of the US population had a disability—the highest recorded percentage to date—with the rate increasing by an average of 0.14 percentage points each year since 2010.

Around 45.8 million people, or 13.7% of the population, had a disability in 2024.

Share of people with a disability

Which age group has the highest rate of disability in the US?


In 2024, adults aged 75 and older had the highest rate of disability, with 45% experiencing a disability, while the youngest group, children aged 5 years and under, had the lowest rate, at 0.7%.
An important breakdown in disabilities is age and how they affect age groups differently. According to the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, older adults are more likely to go to the hospital for infectious diseases and are at a higher risks for chronic conditions more than any other age group. These trends are reflected in disability rates across different age groups.

In 2024, 45% of adults aged 75 and older had a disability.

Share of people with a disability, by age group (2024)

In 2024, the states with the highest disability rates in 2024 were West Virginia at 19.6%, followed by Mississippi (18.3%) and Kentucky (18.2%).

In 2024, West Virginia had the highest share of people with a disability, at 19.6%.

Share of people with a disability, by state (2024)

Disability types
In 2024, 66 out of 1,000 people had an ambulatory disability (difficulty walking or climbing stairs), more than any other type of disability.
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Methodology

USAFacts standardizes data, in areas such as time and demographics, to make it easier to understand and compare.

Page sources

USAFacts endeavors to share the most up-to-date information available. We sourced the data on this page directly from government agencies; however, the intervals at which agencies publish updated data vary.