Fact · Accessibility and health
1 in 7US adults
Mobility disability (serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs) was the most common disability type in the CDC report, affecting about 1 in 7 US adults, ahead of cognition (1 in 10), hearing (1 in 17) and vision (1 in 21).
Checked against its source on October 16, 2026
In the source's own words
“Mobility disability was the most common disability, reported by approximately 1 in 7 adults, followed by cognition (1 in 10), independent living (1 in 15), hearing (1 in 17), vision (1 in 21), and self-care (1 in 27).”
Prevalence of Disabilities and Health Care Access by Disability Status and Type Among Adults, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2025, Main findings, Disability findings.
Open the original- What it measures
- These breakdowns come from the MMWR analysis of the 2016 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System summarized on the CDC page. The CDC defines mobility disability as serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs.
- What it does not show
- Mobility disability as measured here is about walking and stairs, not hand or arm function, so it does not directly count people who cannot type. The detailed ratios are from 2016 data.