24.3% of US adults had chronic pain in 2023.
That is the figure from the National Center for Health Statistics, drawn from the National Health Interview Survey and published in November 2024. Chronic pain here means pain on most days or every day in the past three months.
A second number sits underneath it: 8.5% of adults had high-impact chronic pain — pain that frequently limited life or work activities. That is the group for whom pain is not a symptom to manage around but the organizing fact of daily life.
Two things worth noticing. First, chronic pain is more common than diabetes, depression, or high blood pressure in US adults. Second, it is the most common reason people give for seeking medical care — and yet it remains one of the least understood conditions in medicine.
That gap between how common pain is and how well we understand it is the reason a center like PRICE exists.
What we study:
- Pain and Aging
- Chronic Pain Risk Factors
- Pain and the Brain
- Musculoskeletal Pain
- Pain and Exercise
- Non-Medical Treatment of Pain
Prefer to talk to a person? Call 352-273-5967 or email PRICE-CTSI@ufl.edu.
UF Study ID IRB201400126
References
- Lucas JW, Sohi I. Chronic Pain and High-impact Chronic Pain in U.S. Adults, 2023. NCHS Data Brief No. 518. National Center for Health Statistics; November 2024. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db518.htm