Prevalence of Disability: Individual and Household Context

The American Community Survey (ACS) is a widely used source of disability data. These data put individual disability rates in the US at 12% -13%, or 1 in 8. However, by considering the household context, the impact of disability is considerably greater than disability data for individuals would suggest. At the household level, disability affects approximately 78 million people, or 25% of the U.S. population. This analysis shows that millions of Americans without disabilities are influenced by household member with disabilities, highlighting that the impact of disability at the household level goes beyond the number of individuals with disabilities