Approximately 2.1 million people in the United States have diagnosed type 1 diabetes, according to the CDC’s National Diabetes Statistics Report. That figure includes about 1.8 million adults aged 20 and older and 314,000 children and adolescents under 20.
How Type 1 Compares to Type 2
Of the 29.1 million Americans living with diagnosed diabetes, type 1 accounts for roughly 7%. Type 2 diabetes makes up 90% to 95% of all cases. Because type 2 is so dominant, most national diabetes surveys and statistics reflect type 2 patterns unless specifically noted otherwise. Reliable methods to distinguish between the two types in large population surveys don’t yet exist, which means some of the broader diabetes data blurs the line between them.
The distinction matters because the two conditions have different causes. Type 1 is an autoimmune disease in which the body destroys the cells that produce insulin. It can’t be prevented through diet or exercise, and everyone who has it requires insulin to survive. Type 2 involves the body becoming resistant to insulin or not producing enough of it, and lifestyle factors play a significant role.
New Diagnoses Each Year
Type 1 diabetes is often thought of as a childhood disease, but adults are diagnosed too. Among young people under 18, an estimated 21,732 new type 1 cases were diagnosed in 2022. For comparison, 14,490 young people in the same age group were diagnosed with type 2 that year. In children and teens, type 1 is still the more common form.
About 364,000 Americans under age 20 are living with diagnosed diabetes of any type, representing roughly 0.45% of that population. The majority of those cases are type 1.
Who Is Most Affected
Breaking down type 1 diabetes specifically by race and ethnicity is difficult because national surveys typically report diabetes as a single category. The overall diabetes prevalence rates among U.S. adults, which are driven primarily by type 2, show significant disparities: 15.7% among American Indian or Alaska Native adults, 12.2% among Black adults, 11.8% among Hispanic adults, 9.7% among Asian adults, and 7.1% among white adults. These numbers reflect all diabetes types combined and are shaped largely by type 2 risk factors like obesity and access to healthcare.
Type 1 diabetes follows a somewhat different pattern. It occurs across all racial and ethnic groups, but historically, rates have been higher among white populations. However, recent research has shown rising incidence in Hispanic and Black youth as well.
The Financial Burden
Type 1 diabetes costs the United States an estimated $14.5 billion per year. About $10.5 billion of that goes toward direct medical expenses: insulin, continuous glucose monitors, insulin pumps, doctor visits, lab work, and hospitalizations. The remaining $4 billion comes from indirect costs like lost wages and reduced productivity.
On an individual level, the financial strain is substantial. A person with type 1 diabetes misses an average of 5.5 more work days per year than someone without the condition. Children and teens with type 1 miss about 3.3 more school days annually. Adults with type 1 earn roughly $7,164 less per year in gross pay compared to their peers without diabetes. These losses compound over a lifetime, since many people are diagnosed in childhood and manage the condition for decades.
Why the Numbers Keep Shifting
The 2.1 million figure represents a meaningful increase from earlier estimates, which placed the U.S. type 1 population closer to 1.1 million. Part of this jump reflects better counting methods rather than a true doubling of cases. Older estimates relied on narrower data sources, while newer CDC reports draw from broader surveys and improved statistical modeling. Still, genuine increases in incidence are contributing too. The rate of new type 1 diagnoses in children has been climbing by roughly 2% to 3% per year in the U.S. and other high-income countries, a trend researchers have tracked for decades without fully explaining.
The rising numbers in young people are particularly notable because type 1 has a strong genetic component, and genetics don’t shift that fast. Environmental triggers, changes in early childhood infections, gut bacteria composition, and other factors are all under investigation as potential drivers.