April 21 (UPI) — In the first quarter of 2026, the percentage of U.S. adults who said they were depressed or were receiving treatment for depression was 19.1%, down slightly from the high of 20% in the fourth quarter of 2025. This marks a rise of nine percentage points from the first poll on the subject in 2015, a Gallup poll released Tuesday shows.
This 19.1% translates to about 51 million people in the United States dealing with depression, the poll said.
Over the past 11 years, trends included a jump from the third quarter of 2019 to the second quarter of 2023, when this percentage hit 19.2%. This was about the same time the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the next year, the rate slowly fell to 17.5% by the second quarter of 2024, when it started moving upward again.
The poll also asked those responding if a doctor or nurse has ever told them they have depression. This percentage was 29.5% per the recent poll, another increase from 2024. In 2015, it was 19.6%.
Breaking the numbers down further, depression rates in adults younger than 30 jumped over the past 10 years, with 13% reporting depression in the fourth quarter of 2017 and 28% reporting it so far this year. Depression in the group ages 18 to 29 in 2017, now ages 27 to 38, is now measured at 24.6%.
Depression rates have also increased in those in households earning less than $24,000 a year, jumping from 22.1% in 2017 to 37.4% now. The poll noted that adults younger than 30 were about twice as likely to live in low-income households as those age 50 and older.
The poll noted a connection between depression and loneliness, with 33% of adults who said they experienced loneliness the day before the poll saying they are depressed. About 13% of those who did not experience loneliness reported depression.
There is also a connection between loneliness, depression and those who feel their life is getting worse. About 35 percent of those who said their life has gotten worse over the past year also said they were lonely the day before the poll. About 30 percent of those who said their life has gotten worse also reported depression.
The high levels of depression in U.S. adults correlate with reports of poor mental health. In 2012, 48% of U.S. adults said their mental health or emotional wellbeing was “excellent,” while 29% said the same in 2025.
The percentage of those who say they’ve visited a mental health professional over the past year has jumped from 10% in 2001 to 24% now.This correlates with a receding stigma to mental health care; 70 percent of U.S. adults said they prefer their doctor to ask about both mental and physical health. However, 32% of people (38% of men) said their primary doctor has never asked about their mental health at all.
Gallup surveyed 5,017 adults between Feb. 18-March 3 with a 1.4% margin of error and about 2% to 3% for reported subgroups.
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