Stroke in the United States: The Numbers

Three things to know

• Age: risk rises with age, but strokes can and do happen at any age.
• Speed: acting early matters.
• Race and ethnicity: rates differ between groups.

Fast facts

• Share of heart deaths: in 2022, 1 in 6 deaths (17.5%) from cardiovascular disease was due to stroke.
• Death rate: it fell from 39.5 per 100,000 in 2022 to 39.0 in 2023.
• Frequency: someone in the US has a stroke every 40 seconds, and someone dies of one every 3 minutes and 14 seconds.
• Each year: more than 795,000 people have a stroke. About 610,000 are first strokes, and about 185,000 — nearly 1 in 4 — happen to people who have had one before.
• Type: about 87% are ischemic strokes, in which blood flow to the brain is blocked.
• Cost: nearly $56.2 billion in 2019–2020, counting health care, medicines and missed work.
• Disability: stroke is a leading cause of serious long-term disability. It reduces mobility in more than half of survivors aged 65 and older.

Stroke death rates among adults 35 and older, by county, 2018–2020. Map: CDC.

The counties with the highest death rates (the top fifth) are mainly in Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Ohio and Michigan, with pockets in Virginia, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, California, Oregon, South Dakota and North Dakota.

Who is at risk

• Race and ethnicity: non-Hispanic Black adults have nearly twice the risk of a first stroke that White adults have. Non-Hispanic Black and Pacific Islander adults have the highest death rates from stroke.
• Age: in 2014, 38% of people hospitalized for stroke were under 65.
• Conditions: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking, obesity and diabetes are leading causes. One in three US adults has at least one. See CDC's advice on how to prevent stroke.

Act fast

Survival is more likely when emergency treatment starts quickly, so learn the signs and symptoms.

• Awareness is patchy: in one survey, 93% knew that sudden numbness on one side is a stroke symptom, but only 38% knew all the major symptoms and to call 9-1-1.
• Time matters: patients who reach the emergency room within 3 hours of their first symptoms often have less disability 3 months later than those whose care is delayed.

What CDC does

CDC's Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention funds work on heart disease and stroke in all 50 states, and leads or supports:

• WISEWOMAN: screens women aged 35 to 64 with low incomes and little or no insurance for chronic-disease risk factors, and refers them to lifestyle programs.
• Paul Coverdell National Acute Stroke Program: funds states to measure, track and improve the quality of stroke care, to reduce death and disability.
• Million Hearts®: co-led by CDC and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services with federal and private partners, to prevent heart attacks and strokes.

More information

• CDC: Signs and Symptoms of Stroke, Facts About Hypertension, High Cholesterol Facts, Smoking & Tobacco Use, Diabetes Fast Facts, Adult Obesity Facts
• National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke: Stroke Information Page, Know Stroke campaign
• National Institutes of Health: Mind Your Risks®
• MedlinePlus: Stroke
• Brain Attack Coalition

Sources

Based on "Stroke Facts," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; a work of the United States government in the public domain. The page's photograph of a health care worker reading brain scans, a stock image, is not reproduced.