Health

How many people have mental illness in the United States?

Data updated August 2, 2024
About 58.7 million adults had a mental illness in 2023. That’s the equivalent of 22.8% of the adult population of the U.S, or 2 in 9 adults. This data comes from an annual survey by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which defines mental illness as a range of disorders, from mild to severe, affecting a person’s thinking, mood, or behavior.
In 2023

58.7M

adults had a mental illness
In 2023

22.8%

of adults had a mental illness
In 2023

2 in 9

adults had a mental illness
A person’s own demographics, as well as the social and economic conditions in which they live, can influence health outcomes such as mental illness.
Mental illness rates vary by age group. In 2023, people who were 18–25 years old had the highest rate of mental illness at 33.8%. This was 11.0 percentage points higher than the average for all adults. In 2015, the rate for the 18-25 age group was 21.7%, which was 3.8 percentage points higher than average.

In 2023, young adults had the highest rate of mental illness.

The rate of mental illness differs among races. In 2023, multiracial people had the highest rate of mental illness at 36.7%. This was 13.9 percentage points higher than the national rate for that year.

In 2023, multiracial people had the highest rate of mental illness.

Percentage of adults who had mental illness

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Income levels also introduce variances in mental illness rates. In 2023, people who were below the poverty line had the highest rate of mental illness at 29.0%. That was 6.2 percentage points greater than the national rate.

In 2023, people below the poverty line had the highest rate of mental illness.

Percentage of adults who had mental illness

Since socioeconomic factors vary across states, so do mental illness rates. In 2022, Utah had the country’s highest rate of mental illness at 29.19%, 6.1 percentage points greater than the national rate. New Jersey had the lowest rate at 19.38%, 3.72 percentage points less than the nation overall.

In 2022, Utah had the highest rate of mental illness.

Percentage of adults who had mental illness