Disability & Health U.S. State Profile Data for Tennessee (Adults 18+ years of age)

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Disability Impacts Tennessee

Everyone can play a role in supporting more inclusive state programs, communities, and health care to help people with, or at risk for, disabilities be well and active in their communities. Join CDC and its partners as we work together to improve the health of people with disabilities.

1,705,934 adults in Tennessee have a disability. This is equal to 32 percent or 1 in 3 adults in Tennessee.

Percentage of adults in Tennessee with select functional disability types

Disability Types

Mobility: Serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs

Cognition: Serious difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions

Independent living: Serious difficulty doing errands alone, such as visiting a doctor's office

Hearing: Deafness or serious difficulty hearing

Vision: Blind or serious difficulty seeing, even when wearing glasses

Self-care: Difficulty dressing or bathing

Adults with disabilities in Tennessee experience health disparities and are more likely to...1

Disability Healthcare Costs in Tennessee2

  • About $17.5 BILLION per year, or up to 38% of the state’s healthcare spending
  • About $13,925 per person with a disability
Disability healthcare costs: 38 percent of Tennessee healthcare spending
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Visit Disability and Health Data System to find additional topics about the health and wellness of adults with disabilities in your state.

Note: Data are rounded to the nearest whole figure. For more precise prevalence data, please visit dhds.cdc.gov.

  1. Data Source: 2021 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS).
  2. Disability-associated healthcare expenditures are presented in 2017 dollars as reported by Khavjou, et al. State-level health care expenditures associated with disability. 2021 Public health rep.