Prevalence of Diagnosed Diabetes

Among the US population overall, crude estimates for 2019 were:

• 28.7 million people of all ages—or 8.7% of the US population—had diagnosed diabetes.
• 283,000 children and adolescents younger than age 20 years—or 35 per 10,000 US youths—had diagnosed diabetes. This includes 244,000 with type 1 diabetes.
• 1.6 million adults aged 20 years or older—or 5.7% of all US adults with diagnosed diabetes—reported both having type 1 diabetes and using insulin.
• 3.1 million adults aged 20 years or older—or 10.8% of all US adults with diagnosed diabetes—started using insulin within a year of their diagnosis.

Among US adults aged 18 years or older, age-adjusted data for 2018–2019 indicated the following:

• For both men and women, prevalence of diagnosed diabetes was highest among American Indians and Alaska Natives (14.5%), followed by non-Hispanic Blacks (12.1%), people of Hispanic origin (11.8%), non-Hispanic Asians (9.5%) and non-Hispanic Whites (7.4%) (Figure 2; Appendix Table 3).
• Prevalence varied significantly by education level, which is an indicator of socioeconomic status. Specifically, 13.4% of adults with less than a high school education had diagnosed diabetes versus 9.2% of those with a high school education and 7.1% of those with more than a high school education (Appendix Table 3).
• Adults with family income below the federal poverty level had the highest prevalence for both men (13.7%) and women (14.4%) (Appendix Table 3)

Among US adults aged 18 years or older, age-adjusted data for 2017–2018 (See Detailed Methods) indicated the following:

• Among adults of Hispanic origin, Mexicans (14.4%) and Puerto Ricans (12.4%) had the highest prevalences, followed by Central/South Americans (8.3%) and Cubans (6.5%).
• Among non-Hispanic Asians, Asian Indians (12.6%) and Filipinos (10.4%) had the highest prevalences, followed by Chinese (5.6%). Other Asian groups combined had a prevalence of 9.9%.

County-Level Prevalence Among Adults

Among US adults aged 20 years or older, age-adjusted, county-level data indicated:

• In 2019, estimates of diagnosed diabetes prevalence varied across US counties, ranging from 4.1% to 17.6% (Figure 3).
• Median county-level prevalence of diagnosed diabetes increased from 6.3% in 2004 to 8.4% in 2019.

Figure 3. Age-adjusted, county-level prevalence of diagnosed diabetes among adults aged 20 years or older, United States, 2004, 2012, and 2019