Autism Epidemic ‘Unprecedented in Human History,’ Now Reaches 1 in 31 Kids in America

On Apr. 15, 2025, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published an analysis in its epidemiological digest Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report  (MMWR) which found the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) among children eight years old in the United States to be 1 in 31 (3.2 percent).^{1 2 3 4 5 6}

The analysis is based on data collected in 2022 by the surveillance program known as the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network in 12 states (Arizona, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas) and the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico.⁶

The new estimated rate of ASD, which ranges from 1 in 38 (2.6 percent) in Maryland to 1 in 19 (4.5 percent) in California, represents a 14 percent increase over the 1 in 36 rate (2.3 percent), based on 2020 data published by the CDC on Mar. 24, 2023. Previous ASD prevalence estimates ranged from 1 in 2,500 to 1 in 1,000 during the 1990s; 1 in 150 in 2000; 1 in 110 in 2006; 1 in 88 in 2012; 1 in 54 in 2016 and 1 in 44 in 2018.^{7 8 9}

In a press release, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. characterized the “autism epidemic” as “running rampant.”³ He noted:

One in 31 American children born in 2014 are disabled by autism. That’s up significantly from two years earlier and nearly five times higher than when the CDC first started running autism surveys in children born in 1992, opens in a new tab.³

Secretary Kennedy specifically cited the 1 in 20 prevalence for boys in the U.S. and the 1 in 12.5 for boys in California.³

Minority Children More Severely Affected

According to the MMWR report, minority children were more severely affected by autism. In the 2022 survey, Black, Asian, and Hispanic children had a higher overall ASD prevalence (3.66 percent, 3.82 percent, and 3.30 percent respectively) than White children (2.77 percent). Minority children were also more likely to have a more severe form of autism than White children. Black, Asian, and Hispanic children had either severe or borderline  intellectual functioning (78.9 percent, 66.5 percent, and 63.9 percent respectively), compared to 55.6 percent of White children.^{3 6}

While the corporate media and most medical and public health professionals have consistently sought to attribute the rising prevalence of autism among American children to “improved diagnosis and services and more inclusive diagnostic criteria,”⁷ the Department of Health and Human Services now acknowledges that these cannot be the sole causal reasons.³

“The autism epidemic has now reached a scale unprecedented in human history because it affects the young,” Secretary Kennedy said. “The risks and costs of this crisis are a thousand times more threatening to our country than COVID-19. Autism is preventable and it is unforgivable that we have not yet identified the underlying causes. We should have had these answers 20 years ago.”³

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