Autism in the US: key statistics (2026)

About these figures

This page brings together published figures on autism in the United States, each with its date and a link to its source. Most come from federal agencies, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department of Education, or from peer-reviewed research. Where a figure is an estimate, comes from a survey sponsored by a company or is not a US figure, we say so. All figures were checked on September 29, 2026. If you quote a figure, please cite the original source.

How common is autism in the US?

There is no single count of autistic people in the US. The figures below come from different methods, so they do not match, and they should not be compared as if they measured the same thing (see "Why do different sources give different numbers?" below).

What does CDC's autism monitoring measure?

The "1 in 31" figure comes from CDC's ADDM Network, which counts children whose records at each site show autism. It does not test or examine children. CDC's data page, last reviewed on May 27, 2025, still gives 1 in 31 as the latest figure (CDC).

• Where: children living in the monitoring areas at 16 sites. The report says these areas "are not nationally representative".
• Who is counted: a child whose health or education records show an autism diagnosis in an evaluation, eligibility for special education under autism, or an autism diagnosis code.
• What it can miss: the records reviewed "do not generally include private schools or primary care providers", so some autistic children may not be counted.
• Sex, race and ethnicity: these come from the children's records, or from birth certificates when the records lack them. Families are not asked directly.

The report says differences between communities "might be due to differences in availability of services for early detection and evaluation and diagnostic practices". It also says that higher identification among some previously underserved groups "is consistent with increased access to and provision of identification services" (CDC, MMWR, April 2025).

Why do different sources give different numbers?

Autism figures often seem to disagree. Usually they are measuring different things.

Are boys more likely to be identified than girls?

Boys are identified more often than girls, but research suggests many girls are missed.

A review of research on girls and young women found that parents reported barriers to diagnosis including girls' ways of compensating for their differences (sometimes called masking), other people's perceptions, a lack of information and clinician bias (Lockwood Estrin and colleagues, 2021).

What do the other breakdowns show?

CDC's report on 2022 data also breaks the figures down by race and ethnicity, neighborhood income and intellectual disability.

Source: CDC, MMWR, April 2025. IQ data were available for 61.4% of the children identified.

• Identification was lower among White children than in every other group. The report says this reversal of earlier patterns is consistent with better access to identification services among previously underserved groups.
• Lower neighborhood income was linked with higher identification at 5 of the 16 sites (New Jersey, Tennessee, Laredo in Texas, Utah and Wisconsin) and overall.
• Identification was low at both Texas sites, which covered mainly Hispanic and lower-income communities. The report says this may "suggest lack of access or barriers to accessing identification services".
• Intellectual disability here means an IQ of 70 or below. The report notes that IQ measured in young children is not always stable.

At what age are children identified?

In CDC's 2022 data, half of the autistic 8-year-olds had their first known diagnosis by 47 months, just under age 4, and children born more recently are being identified earlier.

How long are waits, and what do evaluations cost?

There is no federal statistic on how long families wait for an autism evaluation, and no neutral national figure for what a private evaluation costs. These are the best figures we found, with their limits.

If you are waiting, a Parent Center can explain your rights to early intervention and school evaluations, and our help page shows how to reach your state's early intervention program.

What causes autism, and what about vaccines?

Large studies of families suggest genes play the biggest part in autism. On causes, vaccines and medicines, we cite peer-reviewed research and professional bodies first. Where a federal page says something different, we quote it accurately with its date.

• A study of about 2 million people in five countries estimated autism's heritability at about 80% (Bai and colleagues, 2019). A Swedish study of more than 2.6 million pairs of brothers and sisters and 37,570 pairs of twins put it at 83% (Sandin and colleagues, 2017).
• Heritability describes how much of the variation in autism across a population is linked to genes. It is not the chance that a particular child inherits autism.
• In a statement on September 22, 2025, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) said autism is "complex, highly variable and increasingly linked to genetics" and that "there is no single, root cause of autism" (AAP, September 2025).

Vaccines

Large studies have found no link between vaccines and autism. A Danish study of 657,461 children found no increased risk of autism after the MMR vaccine, including in children with an autistic brother or sister (Hviid and colleagues, 2019). A Danish study of more than 1.2 million children found that aluminum in childhood vaccines was not linked with any of 50 long-term conditions, including neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism (Andersson and colleagues, 2025). In the same statement on September 22, 2025, the AAP said: "Studies have repeatedly found no credible link between life-saving childhood vaccines and autism" (AAP, September 2025).

CDC's "Autism and Vaccines" webpage was changed in November 2025 and last updated on July 22, 2026. On September 29, 2026, it said: "The claim 'vaccines do not cause autism' is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism" (CDC). When the page was changed in November 2025, the AAP's president, Susan Kressly, said in a statement that independent researchers in seven countries had carried out "more than 40 high-quality studies involving over 5.6 million people", and the Autism Science Foundation called the new wording "misinformation" that "actually contradicts the best available science" (CBS News, November 2025).

Acetaminophen (Tylenol) in pregnancy

In a statement on September 22, 2025, the president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) said that "not a single reputable study has successfully concluded that the use of acetaminophen in any trimester of pregnancy causes neurodevelopmental disorders in children" (ACOG, September 2025). A Swedish study of nearly 2.5 million children found a tiny link across the whole group that disappeared when brothers and sisters were compared (Ahlqvist and colleagues, 2024). On September 22, 2025, the Food and Drug Administration said it had started the process of changing acetaminophen's label, while stating that "a causal relationship has not been established". A news report on September 9, 2026, found the label had not changed (Medical Daily, September 2026).

How we keep these figures up to date

We check each source when it publishes new data, and we review this page at least every three months and sooner when the news changes. Statements on causes and vaccines are checked against the latest federal wording and professional statements.