Population health intelligence
The American Adult Health Ledger
Look beyond the averages
How healthy
is America?
The people behind the percentages. Explore health, access to care, and the differences that national averages can hide.
Start with the big picture
America’s health, in perspective.
A national snapshot, the changes over time, and a closer look at who is affected.
Access to care
When cost stands in the way.
In 2024, 5.9% of adults did not get needed mental health care because of cost, compared with 4.4% in 2019.
Everyday functioning
The changes behind daily life.
23.6% of adults reported any difficulty remembering or concentrating in 2024, up from 16.4% in 2019.
These are published estimates, not diagnoses or predictions. The Explorer shows uncertainty and definitions for each measure.
2019 to 2024Five signals leaders should not miss +
- Any difficulty remembering or concentrating rose from 16.4% in 2019 to 23.6% in 2024, the largest increase among measures reported in every year.
- Current cigarette smoking fell from 14.0% in 2019 to 9.9% in 2024, the largest decline among those measures.
- Counseling by a mental health professional climbed from 9.5% in 2019 to 14.0% in 2024, yet adults who did not get needed mental health care because of cost also rose, from 4.4% in 2019 to 5.9% in 2024.
- Adults aged 18 to 64 who were uninsured at the time of interview declined from 14.5% in 2019 to 11.6% in 2024.
- The widest urban and rural gap in 2024 was functioning difficulty (composite): 54.5% in nonmetropolitan counties versus 41.7% in large central metros.
The latest national estimates
National snapshot, 2024
Percent of U.S. adults, with 95% confidence intervals and the change from 2019. Select any card to open it in the Explorer.
Largest increases, 2019 to 2024
Percentage point change in the national estimate.
Largest declines, 2019 to 2024
Percentage point change in the national estimate.
Follow your question
All 56 measures by topic
56 measures available.
Selected Circulatory Diseases
Selected Respiratory Diseases
Cancer
Selected Diseases and Conditions
Mental Health
Health Status
Any Difficulties in Functioning
Health Behaviors
Health Insurance Coverage
Cost-Related Problems Accessing Care in the Past 12 Months
Health Care Use in the Past 12 Months
Other Health Care
Explorer
Choose a measure and a population lens. View one year as ranked bars or all six years as trend lines, then export exactly what you see.
Select a measure
The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The Trend Monitor and Overview tabs work without it.
How the survey defines this measure
Data table
Gap Finder
Pick a population lens and the dashboard scans all 56 measures at once, ranking where the distance between the highest and lowest group is largest. Confidence-interval separation is a descriptive screen, not a formal significance test.
Largest gaps
Each row runs from the lowest group to the highest group for that measure. Solid rows have non-overlapping intervals.
Every measure, ranked
Trend Monitor
Every national estimate from its first to its latest reported year. A clear rise or decline means the two 95% confidence intervals do not overlap, a deliberately conservative screen. Sort by any column or filter by topic.
| Topic | First year | Interval test | 2019 to 2024 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Selected Circulatory Diseases | 1.7 2019 | 1.6 2024 | -0.1 | -6% | Intervals overlap | ||
| Selected Circulatory Diseases | 4.6 2019 | 5.0 2024 | +0.4 | +9% | Intervals overlap | ||
| Selected Circulatory Diseases | 20.1 2019 | 23.7 2024 | +3.6 | +18% | Clear rise | ||
| Selected Circulatory Diseases | 27.0 2019 | 27.3 2024 | +0.3 | +1% | Intervals overlap | ||
| Selected Circulatory Diseases | 3.1 2019 | 3.0 2024 | -0.1 | -3% | Intervals overlap | ||
| Selected Respiratory Diseases | 4.6 2019 | 4.2 2024 | -0.4 | -9% | Intervals overlap | ||
| Selected Respiratory Diseases | 3.4 2019 | 3.7 2024 | +0.3 | +9% | Intervals overlap | ||
| Selected Respiratory Diseases | 8.0 2019 | 8.6 2024 | +0.6 | +8% | Intervals overlap | ||
| Cancer | 9.5 2019 | 10.3 2024 | +0.8 | +8% | Intervals overlap | ||
| Cancer | 1.7 2019 | 1.8 2024 | +0.1 | +6% | Intervals overlap | ||
| Cancer | 1.1 2019 | 0.7 2024 | -0.4 | -36% | Intervals overlap | ||
| Cancer | 2.3 2019 | 2.6 2024 | +0.3 | +13% | Intervals overlap | ||
| Cancer | 3.1 2019 | 3.6 2024 | +0.5 | +16% | Clear rise | ||
| Selected Diseases and Conditions | 21.4 2019 | 21.3 2024 | -0.1 | -0% | Intervals overlap | ||
| 4 of 6 years (rotating content) | Selected Diseases and Conditions | 20.5 2019 | 24.3 2023 | +3.8 | +19% | Clear rise | |
| Selected Diseases and Conditions | 9.3 2019 | 10.0 2024 | +0.7 | +8% | Intervals overlap | ||
| Selected Diseases and Conditions | 32.1 2019 | 33.4 2024 | +1.3 | +4% | Intervals overlap | ||
| Mental Health | 11.1 2019 | 12.2 2024 | +1.1 | +10% | Clear rise | ||
| Mental Health | 11.7 2019 | 14.3 2024 | +2.6 | +22% | Clear rise | ||
| Mental Health | 4.7 2019 | 4.8 2024 | +0.1 | +2% | Intervals overlap | ||
| Mental Health | 9.8 2019 | 11.6 2024 | +1.8 | +18% | Clear rise | ||
| Mental Health | 9.5 2019 | 14.0 2024 | +4.5 | +47% | Clear rise | ||
| Health Status | 15.3 2019 | 14.8 2024 | -0.5 | -3% | Intervals overlap | ||
| Health Status | 11.2 2019 | 12.6 2024 | +1.4 | +12% | Clear rise | ||
| Any Difficulties in Functioning | 9.0 2019 | 9.8 2024 | +0.8 | +9% | Intervals overlap | ||
| Any Difficulties in Functioning | 41.1 2019 | 46.3 2024 | +5.2 | +13% | Clear rise | ||
| Any Difficulties in Functioning | 14.6 2019 | 15.7 2024 | +1.1 | +8% | Clear rise | ||
| Any Difficulties in Functioning | 16.4 2019 | 18.0 2024 | +1.6 | +10% | Clear rise | ||
| Any Difficulties in Functioning | 18.6 2019 | 18.2 2024 | -0.4 | -2% | Intervals overlap | ||
| Any Difficulties in Functioning | 5.0 2019 | 5.8 2024 | +0.8 | +16% | Clear rise | ||
| Any Difficulties in Functioning | 4.1 2019 | 4.7 2024 | +0.6 | +15% | Intervals overlap | ||
| Any Difficulties in Functioning | 16.4 2019 | 23.6 2024 | +7.2 | +44% | Clear rise | ||
| Health Behaviors | 14.0 2019 | 9.9 2024 | -4.1 | -29% | Clear decline | ||
| Health Behaviors | 4.5 2019 | 7.0 2024 | +2.5 | +56% | Clear rise | ||
| Health Insurance Coverage | 14.5 2019 | 11.6 2024 | -2.9 | -20% | Clear decline | ||
| Health Insurance Coverage | 67.5 2019 | 69.4 2024 | +1.9 | +3% | Intervals overlap | ||
| Health Insurance Coverage | 20.4 2019 | 21.5 2024 | +1.1 | +5% | Intervals overlap | ||
| Health Insurance Coverage | 4.8 2019 | 7.1 2024 | +2.3 | +48% | Clear rise | ||
| Health Insurance Coverage | 9.3 2019 | 7.6 2024 | -1.7 | -18% | Clear decline | ||
| Health Insurance Coverage | 18.9 2019 | 16.4 2024 | -2.5 | -13% | Clear decline | ||
| Cost-Related Problems Accessing Care in the Past 12 Months | 8.3 2019 | 7.4 2024 | -0.9 | -11% | Clear decline | ||
| Cost-Related Problems Accessing Care in the Past 12 Months | 9.1 2019 | 8.6 2024 | -0.5 | -5% | Intervals overlap | ||
| Cost-Related Problems Accessing Care in the Past 12 Months | 4.4 2019 | 5.9 2024 | +1.5 | +34% | Clear rise | ||
| Cost-Related Problems Accessing Care in the Past 12 Months | 9.6 2019 | 7.8 2024 | -1.8 | -19% | Clear decline | ||
| Health Care Use in the Past 12 Months | 84.9 2019 | 85.2 2024 | +0.3 | +0% | Intervals overlap | ||
| Health Care Use in the Past 12 Months | 78.9 2019 | 80.8 2024 | +1.9 | +2% | Clear rise | ||
| Health Care Use in the Past 12 Months | 21.8 2019 | 20.7 2024 | -1.1 | -5% | Intervals overlap | ||
| 5 of 6 years (rotating content) | Health Care Use in the Past 12 Months | 28.8 2019 | 31.6 2023 | +2.8 | +10% | Clear rise | |
| Reported in 2024 only (rotating content) | Health Care Use in the Past 12 Months | n/a | 27.3 2024 | n/a | n/a | Single year | |
| Reported in 2024 only (rotating content) | Health Care Use in the Past 12 Months | n/a | 21.2 2024 | n/a | n/a | Single year | |
| 4 of 6 years (rotating content) | Health Care Use in the Past 12 Months | 65.3 2019 | 65.7 2023 | +0.4 | +1% | Intervals overlap | |
| Health Care Use in the Past 12 Months | 46.8 2019 | 43.0 2024 | -3.8 | -8% | Clear decline | ||
| 3 of 6 years (rotating content) | Health Care Use in the Past 12 Months | 88.1 2019 | 87.0 2023 | -1.1 | -1% | Intervals overlap | |
| Health Care Use in the Past 12 Months | 66.3 2019 | 70.5 2024 | +4.2 | +6% | Clear rise | ||
| Other Health Care | 87.8 2019 | 88.6 2024 | +0.8 | +1% | Intervals overlap | ||
| Other Health Care | 24.7 2019 | 25.1 2024 | +0.4 | +2% | Intervals overlap |
Compare
Follow up to four measures side by side for one population, such as adults in nonmetropolitan counties or adults with disability. Useful for testing whether access, cost, and outcome measures move together.
Comparison
Values
Methods and notes
What the numbers are, what they are not, and how to read them responsibly.
The data
Every estimate comes from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), the principal source of information on the health of the civilian noninstitutionalized U.S. population, conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Values are the NCHS Interactive Summary Health Statistics for Adults, 2019 to 2024, taken from the public tables NCHS publishes for its query tool. Nothing has been re-estimated, smoothed, or imputed; every figure on this page is the published value.
Estimates are unadjusted (crude) percentages of adults aged 18 and over, or of adults aged 18 to 64 for the insurance coverage measures. They come from the Sample Adult file, weighted with the Sample Adult weight. Unknowns are excluded from denominators unless otherwise noted.
Confidence intervals are two-sided 95% intervals calculated by NCHS using the Clopper-Pearson method adapted for complex surveys by Korn and Graubard.
Reading the flags
- *
- Estimate does not meet NCHS standards of reliability and is not shown.
- **
- Estimate meets the reliability standard but its complement (100 minus the percentage) does not. Shown, but interpret with care.
- ***
- Topic is limited to adults aged 18 to 64, so it is not reported for this group.
- NA
- Rotating content. The question was not asked in that survey year.
- 0
- Quantity zero.
Cautions that matter
The interval screen is not a significance test. This dashboard calls a change or a gap clear only when two 95% intervals do not overlap. That standard is conservative: two estimates whose intervals overlap can still differ significantly under a formal test. Treat overlap as “not demonstrated here,” not as “no difference.”
2019 was a redesign year. NHIS launched a redesigned questionnaire and weighting in 2019, so these estimates should not be compared directly with years before 2019.
2020 was disrupted. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, interviewing moved to telephone-only from March 19, 2020, and response rates fell for April through December 2020. Differences between 2020 and other years may reflect those changes.
Groups are associations, not causes. Estimates are crude and not age-adjusted. Disability, functioning, insurance, and marital status groups differ sharply by age, so some of the gaps shown reflect age composition.
Education is shown for adults aged 25 and over. Race groups shown are those NCHS reports; other groups are not shown for confidentiality or reliability reasons.
Source and acknowledgment
National Center for Health Statistics. Interactive Summary Health Statistics for Adults, National Health Interview Survey, 2019 to 2024. Technical notes: Technical Notes for Interactive Summary Health Statistics, 2019 to 2024. Source tables: HHS-NHIS/SHS_TABLES_ADULTS. Survey home: cdc.gov/nchs/nhis.
The NHIS Summary Health Statistics application is a U.S. Government work in the public domain, built on a template from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) MEPS summary tables. As NCHS requests, NCHS and AHRQ are acknowledged here. This independent dashboard is not produced, reviewed, or endorsed by NCHS, CDC, AHRQ, or HHS, and it uses no government seal or logo.
Interpretation, design, and analysis: Kelly Emrick, DHSc, PhD, MBA, BSRT(ARRT)R.