Chronic Kidney Disease in the United States: CDC's 2026 Estimates

In chronic kidney disease (CKD), the kidneys are damaged and, over time, may clean the blood less well than healthy kidneys do. When they fall behind, toxic waste and extra fluid build up in the body, which can lead to high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke and early death. People who have CKD, or are at risk of it, can protect their kidneys with the help of their health care providers.

CDC's national estimates were updated in March 2026.

Key figures

• Overall: more than 1 in 10 adults aged 18 or older — about 37 million people — were estimated to have CKD.
• Most don't know: about 9 in 10 (87%) adults aged 20 or older with CKD did not know they had it.

Who has it

• By age: CKD was more common at 65 or older (34%) than at 45–64 (13%) or 18–44 (6%).
• By race and ethnicity: it was more common in non-Hispanic Black adults (22%) than in non-Hispanic White (13%) or Hispanic (12%) adults.

How the estimates were made

• The figures are for CKD stages 1–4 in adults, from the August 2021–August 2023 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), using the CKD-EPI equation without race. Stage 5 — kidney failure — was left out because the sample was too small.
• Each person was measured once, for urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio and serum creatinine. International guidelines (Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes) look for abnormal results that persist, so these figures may overestimate CKD.
• Awareness was asked only of people aged 20 or older.
• Figures by sex and race-ethnicity are age-standardized to the 2023 U.S. population; the overall percentage is not. The 37 million comes from applying the percentages for each age, sex and race-ethnicity group to the 2023 population and adding them up.
• High blood pressure: taking prescription blood pressure medicine, or a measured reading of 130/80 mmHg or higher.
• Diabetes: being told by a doctor or health professional (diagnosed), or a fasting plasma glucose of 126 mg/dL or more or an A1C of 6.5% or more (undiagnosed).
• Prediabetes: fasting glucose of 100–125 mg/dL or an A1C of 5.7%–6.4%.
• Type 1 diabetes: among those diagnosed, currently using insulin and having started it within a year of diagnosis; everyone else diagnosed counted as type 2.

CDC's Kidney Disease Surveillance System has more data.

Sources

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Chronic Kidney Disease in the United States (2026). The page gives the share of adults with CKD as 14% in its text and 15% in its accompanying graphic, so no single percentage is given here.