USA Addiction Statistics

USA Addiction Statistics at a Glance

In 2025, an estimated 44.6 million people aged 12 or older, or 15.3%, had a substance use disorder in the past year.⁠^[1]

This 2026 update uses national survey findings from 2025. The overdose statistics distinguish final 2024 death records from a provisional estimate for the 12 months ending March 2026.⁠^[2]⁠^[3]

How Many People Are Addicted to Drugs in the US?

In 2025, an estimated 26.0 million people aged 12 or older, or 8.9%, had a past-year drug use disorder, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).⁠^[1]

Including alcohol use disorders, 44.6 million people aged 12 or older, or 15.3%, had a past-year substance use disorder. Among adults aged 18 or older specifically, the estimate was 42.7 million, or 16.1%. The age group matters when describing how many Americans are living with addiction.⁠^[1]⁠^[4]

“Addiction” is common everyday wording, while these statistics measure substance use disorders, including mild, moderate, and severe disorders. The totals cover alcohol and the drugs assessed by the survey. They are not estimates of every form of addiction, such as nicotine dependence or behavioral addictions.⁠^[1]

How Alcohol and Drug Use Disorders Overlap

Of the 44.6 million people aged 12 or older with a past-year substance use disorder in 2025, 7.1 million had both an alcohol use disorder and a drug use disorder. That was 16.0% of the substance use disorder group. Adding the alcohol and drug disorder totals would count these people twice.⁠^[1]

Drug Abuse Statistics 2026 and What They Measure

Drug abuse statistics can describe very different things: use, prescription misuse, a substance use disorder, treatment, or death. These measures answer different questions and should not be used interchangeably.

• Substance use describes using a substance during a specified period. Use alone does not establish a substance use disorder.
• Prescription misuse distinguishes use outside medical directions from medication use as directed. All prescription medication use should not be labeled misuse.
• Substance use disorder describes a survey-defined pattern of substance-related problems, not simply whether someone has taken a drug.
• Overdose deaths measure a fatal outcome. They do not measure how many people have a substance use disorder.⁠^[1]⁠^[3]

In 2025, 69.8 million people aged 12 or older, or 24.0%, reported illicit drug use in the past year. SAMHSA’s category includes marijuana regardless of state legalization, other specified drugs, and prescription misuse. It does not classify all medical prescription use as illicit drug use.⁠^[1]

Who the National Survey on Drug Use and Health Represents

The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) represents the U.S. civilian, noninstitutionalized population aged 12 or older. It includes people in households and settings such as shelters and college dormitories. It excludes active-duty military personnel, people without a fixed address who are not in shelters, and residents of institutions such as jails and nursing homes.⁠^[1]

The 2025 survey included 60,447 completed interviews conducted online or in person. Its population totals are weighted estimates, not a census. Percentages generally describe the specified age group and time period, not all U.S. residents. Rounded counts may not add exactly to a reported total.⁠^[1]⁠^[4]

Past-Month Alcohol, Tobacco, Nicotine Vaping, and Drug Use

For people aged 12 or older in 2025, SAMHSA reported the following use during the past month. These shorter-period measures are distinct from past-year disorder estimates.⁠^[1]

• Alcohol: 129.1 million people, or 44.4%, drank alcohol.
• Tobacco products: 46.9 million people, or 16.2%, used a tobacco product.
• Nicotine vaping: 29.3 million people, or 10.1%, vaped nicotine.
• Illicit drugs: 47.5 million people, or 16.4%, used an illicit drug under the survey’s definition.⁠^[1]

These categories overlap. Someone could report drinking alcohol, vaping nicotine, and using marijuana during the same month.⁠^[1]

Drug Addiction Statistics by Substance

Substance-specific statistics help distinguish how widely a drug is used from how many people have a disorder involving it. The figures below concern people aged 12 or older in 2025. A person can appear in more than one substance category.⁠^[1]⁠^[4]

Past-Year Drug Use and Prescription Opioid Misuse

SAMHSA reported the following past-year use or misuse estimates.⁠^[1]

• Marijuana or cannabis use: 61.6 million people.
• Hallucinogen use: 9.1 million people.
• Prescription stimulant misuse: 3.9 million people.
• Prescription tranquilizer or sedative misuse: 4.2 million people.
• Prescription opioid misuse: 6.9 million people.
• Cocaine use, including crack: 4.9 million people.
• Methamphetamine use: 2.7 million people.
• Heroin use: 581,000 people.⁠^[1]

Past-Year Substance Use Disorders by Drug

The following estimates describe disorders rather than use alone. Percentages are of the population aged 12 or older, not of people who used each substance.⁠^[4]

• Alcohol use disorder: 25.7 million people, or 8.9%.
• Marijuana or cannabis use disorder: 19.3 million people, or 6.7%.
• Opioid use disorder: About 4.0 million people, or 1.4%. This survey measure does not capture disorders arising solely from illegally made fentanyl.⁠^[1]
• Methamphetamine use disorder: About 1.8 million people, or 0.6%.
• Prescription stimulant use disorder: About 1.7 million people, or 0.6%.
• Prescription tranquilizer or sedative use disorder: About 1.7 million people, or 0.6%.
• Cocaine use disorder: About 1.4 million people, or 0.5%.
• Heroin use disorder: 477,000 people, or 0.2%.
• Hallucinogen use disorder: 495,000 people, or 0.2%.
• Inhalant use disorder: 257,000 people, or 0.1%.⁠^[4]

SAMHSA also groups cocaine, methamphetamine, and prescription stimulants into a broader central nervous system stimulant category. About 4.5 million people aged 12 or older, or 1.5%, had a past-year disorder in that combined category in 2025. It is not another separate group to add to the individual stimulant totals.⁠^[1]⁠^[4]

What Is the Most Abused Substance in the US?

Alcohol use disorder was the most common individual substance use disorder measured by the 2025 NSDUH, affecting 25.7 million people aged 12 or older. Marijuana was the most commonly used substance within the survey’s illicit-drug category, with 61.6 million past-year users.⁠^[1]⁠^[4]

Current U.S. Opioid Misuse Statistics

In 2025, 7.1 million people aged 12 or older, or 2.4%, reported past-year opioid misuse under the report’s definition: prescription opioid misuse or heroin use. This measure excludes illegally made fentanyl use. Of those reporting prescription opioid misuse, an estimated 382,000 also reported heroin use.⁠^[1]

These limits matter when interpreting the U.S. opioid crisis. Prescription misuse estimates, opioid use disorder estimates, and overdose deaths describe different parts of the problem. No single one of these numbers represents every person affected by opioids.

Are U.S. Addiction Rates Rising or Falling?

Past-year substance use disorder prevalence decreased from 2021 through 2025 in SAMHSA’s current comparable series. However, not every substance-related measure moved in the same direction. These trends concern people aged 12 or older.⁠^[1]

• Any substance use disorder: The percentage decreased from 16.7% in 2021 to 15.3% in 2025.
• Alcohol use disorder: The percentage decreased from 10.6% to 8.9%.
• Drug use disorder overall: SAMHSA found no statistically significant overall trend from 2021 through 2025. The 2025 estimate was 8.9%.
• Marijuana use disorder: The percentage increased from 6.0% to 6.7%.⁠^[1]

Meanwhile, past-year illicit drug use increased from 22.2% in 2021 to 24.0% in 2025, largely tied to increased marijuana use. More reported use and a lower overall substance use disorder rate are not contradictory. They measure different outcomes.⁠^[1]

These comparisons use updated 2021 estimates that account for the proportions of online and in-person interviews. SAMHSA cautions against comparing newer results with the original, unadjusted 2021 publications. Figures from 2020 and earlier should not be treated as a directly comparable continuation of this series.⁠^[5]

Drug Addiction Demographics by Age, Sex, Race, and Ethnicity

The age figures below describe all substance use disorders, while the sex and race or ethnicity figures describe drug use disorder specifically.⁠^[4]

Substance Use Disorder by Age Group

Among NSDUH’s three broad age groups, young adults aged 18 to 25 had the highest past-year substance use disorder percentage in 2025.⁠^[1]

• Ages 12 to 17: 7.4%, or about 1.9 million adolescents, had a substance use disorder.
• Ages 18 to 25: 23.8%, or about 8.6 million young adults, had a substance use disorder.
• Ages 26 or older: 14.9%, or about 34.1 million adults, had a substance use disorder.⁠^[1]

Among adults aged 65 or older, 6.8% had a past-year substance use disorder in 2025. This older-adult group is part of the broader age-26-or-older population, not an additional group to add to it. The estimate does not represent nursing home residents, who are outside NSDUH’s population coverage.⁠^[1]⁠^[4]

Drug Use Disorder by Sex

In 2025, the past-year drug use disorder estimates for people aged 12 or older were 10.2% for males and 7.8% for females. These are the source table’s sex categories, not measures of gender identity.⁠^[4]

Drug Use Disorder by Race and Ethnicity

SAMHSA reported the following past-year drug use disorder percentages among people aged 12 or older in 2025. All race categories listed here are non-Hispanic. Hispanic or Latino is reported separately.⁠^[4]

• American Indian or Alaska Native: 14.8%.
• Asian: 3.2%.
• Black or African American: 10.8%.
• Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander: 10.1%.
• White: 8.8%.
• Two or more races: 14.6%.
• Hispanic or Latino: 9.1%.⁠^[4]

These survey estimates should not be treated as proof of inherent biological differences or as predictions about any individual. The percentages alone also do not establish that every difference between groups is statistically significant. They are descriptive findings, not explanations of why a disorder develops.

Pregnancy and LGBTQ+ Population Data

The national figures above should not be presented as pregnancy-specific or LGBTQ+-specific rates. The sources used for this update do not provide comparable 2025 estimates for those populations, so older percentages are not relabeled as current statistics.

For questions about care, see AddictionHelp.com’s guides to addiction and pregnancy and addiction in the LGBTQ+ community. When contacting a provider, ask whether the program can address pregnancy-related needs or provide LGBTQ+-affirming support.

Teen Substance Use Statistics by School Grade

Twelfth graders had the highest reported past-year alcohol, cannabis, and nicotine-vaping percentages among the three grades surveyed in 2025. These findings come from Monitoring the Future, a separate survey of students enrolled in eighth, 10th, and 12th grades. They do not describe every teenager or measure addiction prevalence.⁠^[6]

• Past-year alcohol use: 11% of eighth graders, 24% of 10th graders, and 41% of 12th graders reported use.
• Past-year cannabis use: 8% of eighth graders, 16% of 10th graders, and 26% of 12th graders reported use.
• Past-year nicotine vaping: 9% of eighth graders, 14% of 10th graders, and 20% of 12th graders reported use.⁠^[6]

The survey collected responses from 23,726 students at 270 public and private schools from February through June 2025. Because the survey is conducted in schools, it does not include young people who are not enrolled, such as those who have dropped out. Its grade-based estimates should not be substituted for NSDUH’s age-based estimates.⁠^[6]

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) reported that use of most drugs remained near the low levels reached in 2021. That did not mean every trend was unchanged. Reported heroin use increased from 2024 across the three surveyed grades, although it remained low.⁠^[6]

For families, these findings can support a specific conversation rather than an assumption about a child. Ask what substances they encounter at school, what they hear about vaping, and whom they could call for a safe ride if alcohol or drugs were involved.

U.S. Drug Overdose Death Statistics

Final CDC records show 79,384 drug overdose deaths in 2024. More recent provisional estimates suggest a continued decline, but final annual records and rolling 12-month predictions must be labeled separately.⁠^[2]⁠^[3]

Final Drug Overdose Deaths and Rates for 2024

The age-adjusted overdose death rate fell from 31.3 deaths per 100,000 in 2023 to 23.1 in 2024. That was a 26.2% decrease in the rate, not a statement that the death count fell by exactly 26.2%. Age adjustment accounts for differences in age distribution when comparing populations.⁠^[3]

• By sex: The 2024 age-adjusted overdose death rate was 32.2 per 100,000 for males and 14.1 for females.
• By age: Adults aged 35 to 44 had the highest overdose death rate among the age groups reported, at 44.2 per 100,000. The rate for adults aged 65 or older was 13.4. These are age-specific rates.
• By race and Hispanic origin: The age-adjusted rate was highest among non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaska Native people, at 51.6 per 100,000, and lowest among non-Hispanic Asian people, at 4.4.⁠^[3]

Provisional Overdose Estimate for the 12 Months Ending March 2026

In its August 31, 2026 release, CDC reported a predicted 67,798 drug overdose deaths during the 12 months ending March 2026. That was a 12.3% decrease compared with the corresponding year-earlier 12-month period.⁠^[2]

This is a provisional rolling estimate, not a final count for calendar year 2026. It should not be compared with the final 2024 annual count as though the observation periods were identical. The decline is encouraging, while the number of deaths remains substantial.

Substance Use Disorders and Mental Illness

In 2025, 18.5 million adults aged 18 or older had both any mental illness and a substance use disorder in the past year. This represented 7.0% of all adults and about two in five of the 42.7 million adults with a past-year substance use disorder. The denominator here is adults, not everyone aged 12 or older.⁠^[1]

“Any mental illness” (AMI) covers a past-year mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder meeting the report’s diagnostic criteria. It includes conditions across a range of severity, but excludes developmental disorders and substance use disorders.⁠^[1]

SAMHSA updated its mental-illness estimation model for 2025 and revised the 2021–2024 estimates. Earlier published mental-illness figures may differ because of this method change. Use the revised estimates when comparing those years.⁠^[1]

Having both conditions within the past year does not prove that one caused the other or that symptoms occurred at exactly the same time.⁠^[1]

If you are seeking care for substance use and mental health concerns, tell the provider about both. Ask how assessment and treatment will address them together. AddictionHelp.com’s dual diagnosis guide explains this care pathway.

The U.S. Substance Use Treatment Gap

In 2025, 47.2 million people aged 12 or older, or 16.3%, were classified as needing substance use treatment. Of that group, 7.6 million, or 16.0%, received treatment in the past year. The treatment percentage changes depending on which population is being counted.⁠^[1]

• Among all people aged 12 or older: 7.6 million, or 2.6%, received past-year substance use treatment.
• Among people classified as needing treatment: 7.6 million, or 16.0%, received treatment.
• Among people with a past-year substance use disorder: 4.9 million, or 11.0%, received treatment. Another 39.7 million, or 89.0%, did not receive treatment under the survey’s definition.⁠^[1]

Why Treatment Rates Have Different Denominators

The treatment-need group includes people with a past-year substance use disorder and people who received treatment even though they did not have a past-year disorder. In 2025, that second group included about 2.7 million people. Some may not have had a past-year disorder because they were receiving treatment. Counts are rounded.⁠^[1]

Put another way, about 11 out of 100 people with a past-year substance use disorder received treatment. Among the broader group classified as needing treatment, about 16 out of 100 received it. These are different groups, so the percentages are not contradictory.⁠^[1]

What Counts as Substance Use Treatment in These Statistics

The survey’s treatment measure includes professional counseling, medication, and other qualifying substance use treatment, including telehealth. It does not count support groups, peer support, recovery coaching, emergency-room services, withdrawal management, or overdose reversal medicine as substance use treatment in this measure. That exclusion does not mean these services are useless or that someone received no support.⁠^[1]

Among young adults aged 18 to 25 who needed treatment, 9.6% received it in 2025. That was the lowest receipt percentage among the three broad age groups. For someone considering help, reviewing addiction treatment options or learning what drug rehab involves can make the first conversation more concrete.⁠^[1]

How Many Americans Report Being in Recovery?

In 2025, 30.6 million adults aged 18 or older believed they had ever experienced a problem with drugs or alcohol. Of that group, 22.3 million, or 73.0%, considered themselves in recovery or recovered. These findings provide an important counterpoint to statistics about illness and death.⁠^[1]

This is a self-reported recovery measure, not a clinical cure rate, a treatment success rate, or a prediction for one person. Its denominator is adults who perceived a substance use problem at some point in life, not everyone with a past-year disorder. Even with that distinction, the finding shows that millions of adults describe a life beyond a substance use problem.⁠^[1]

More Addiction Statistics by Substance and Topic

These related AddictionHelp.com pages address specific substances, behaviors, and mental health topics. Their measures are not all included in the national substance use disorder total, so check each page’s definitions before comparing numbers.

Opioid Statistics

• Fentanyl Addiction Statistics
• Hydrocodone Statistics
• Oxycodone Statistics
• Codeine Addiction Statistics

Other Substance Use and Consumption Statistics

• K2 Spice Abuse Statistics
• Ketamine Addiction Statistics
• Caffeine Addiction Statistics
• Sugar Addiction Statistics

Behavioral Addiction and Mental Health Statistics

• Exercise Addiction Statistics
• Love Addiction Statistics
• Shopping Addiction Statistics
• Video Game Addiction Statistics
• Mental Health Statistics

Getting Help for Drug or Alcohol Concerns

You do not have to determine whether you fit a national statistic before asking for help. A healthcare professional can discuss your situation, while a referral service can help identify places to contact. If you are supporting someone else, you can ask about services for families too.

SAMHSA’s National Helpline, 1-800-662-4357, provides free, confidential treatment referrals and information 24/7 in English and Spanish. It is not a counseling service, and a free referral does not guarantee free treatment. You can also search FindTreatment.gov.⁠^[7]

If cost is a concern, ask about state-funded programs, sliding-fee providers, or facilities that accept your insurance. SAMHSA can connect uninsured or underinsured callers with state services. A practical next step is to call the referral line or a local provider and ask about appointment availability, costs, and the concerns you want help addressing.⁠^[7]

Education notice: AddictionHelp.com provides educational information, not a diagnosis or personalized medical advice. Read our disclaimer.

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