Kidney stones are surprisingly common. About 1 in 10 people will develop one at some point in their life, and the rates have been climbing for decades. Men face a slightly higher lifetime risk (11%) compared to women (9%), though that gap has been narrowing over time.
Prevalence by Gender and Ethnicity
While men are more likely overall to develop kidney stones, the picture changes depending on race and ethnicity. A large analysis of over 175,000 patients across multiple medical centers and an insurance claims database found that most Black stone formers were female, while most White stone formers were male. Hispanic patients showed a more even split, with women making up the majority of stone formers in some datasets.
The gender gap is also shrinking. Among White and non-Hispanic patients, the ratio of male-to-female stone formers has been steadily declining over the past decade. In Black and Hispanic populations, that ratio has remained more stable. The reasons aren’t entirely clear, but rising rates of obesity and dietary changes likely play a role across all groups.
Age and Rising Rates in Children
Kidney stones peak in adults between their 40s and 60s, but they’re no longer just an adult problem. The prevalence of kidney stones in children has roughly doubled in recent years, climbing from around 4 to 6% to approximately 10%. Globally, there were about 3.3 million cases of pediatric kidney stones in 2021, up from 2.7 million in 1990. Teenagers aged 15 to 19 carry the heaviest burden among children, with the highest rates of any pediatric age group worldwide.
Boys develop stones more often than girls, at a rate of roughly 184 per 100,000 compared to 143 per 100,000. The increase in pediatric cases is largely driven by changes in diet, lifestyle, and the wider use of imaging that catches stones that previously would have gone undetected.
The Stone Belt: Where You Live Matters
Geography has a measurable effect on your risk. In the United States, kidney stone prevalence increases from north to south and from west to east. The southeastern states form what researchers call the “stone belt,” a high-risk zone where rates are at least 20% above the national average. Currently, about 41% of the U.S. population lives in this zone.
Heat is the main driver. Higher temperatures cause more sweating, which reduces urine volume and concentrates the minerals that form stones. Low humidity amplifies the effect by pulling even more water through the skin. For men, sunlight exposure explains more of the geographic variation than temperature or fluid intake alone. For women, the picture is murkier, with temperature, sunlight, and beverage consumption each playing a roughly equal but incomplete role.
Climate change is expected to expand the stone belt significantly. Models predict that 56% of the U.S. population will live in a high-risk zone by 2050, and 70% by 2095.
Recurrence Is the Norm
Getting one kidney stone substantially raises the odds of getting another. Adults who pass their first stone have about a 50% chance of forming a second one within 5 to 10 years. That recurrence rate makes kidney stones a chronic condition for many people, not a one-time event. Younger patients face an even steeper curve: people who form their first stone before age 20 tend to experience higher recurrence rates than those who develop stones later in life.
Types of Kidney Stones
There are four main types, but calcium stones dominate. These include calcium oxalate and calcium phosphate stones, with calcium oxalate being the more common of the two. Less frequent types include uric acid stones (more common in people with gout or diabetes), struvite stones (often linked to urinary tract infections), and cystine stones (caused by a rare inherited condition). Knowing the type matters because it shapes which dietary and medical strategies are most effective at preventing recurrence.
Obesity, Diabetes, and Stone Risk
Kidney stones don’t exist in isolation. Higher body mass index and a larger waist-to-hip ratio both significantly increase the risk of forming stones, and this connection appears to be partly genetic, not just behavioral. Research using genetic data has confirmed modest but consistent links between kidney stones and obesity, type 2 diabetes, and high blood pressure. When researchers statistically accounted for body weight, the connection between stones and high blood pressure nearly disappeared, suggesting that excess weight is the common thread tying these conditions together. The link to type 2 diabetes, however, held up even after adjusting for weight, pointing to additional metabolic factors at play.
The Scale of the Problem
Kidney stones generate a massive number of emergency visits. In 2009, there were approximately 1.3 million ER visits related to kidney stones in the United States, averaging about 3,600 visits every single day. Roughly 80% of those patients were treated and sent home. The remaining 20%, about 261,000 visits, resulted in a hospital admission. The total annual cost of kidney stone care in the U.S. has been estimated at $1.83 billion, including treatment, evaluation, and lost wages from missed work.
With obesity rates climbing, temperatures rising, and dietary patterns shifting toward more processed and salt-heavy foods, kidney stone prevalence is expected to keep increasing. What was once considered a condition of middle-aged men is now a widespread problem affecting children, women, and populations across every demographic group.