Demographics of Americans with Vision Difficulty

These data come from the American Community Survey (ACS). For all items on this page, the term “vision difficulty” refers to ACS respondents who answered yes to the question, “Are you blind or do you have serious difficulty seeing, even while wearing glasses or contact lenses?”

Data source: 2022 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates. https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/

Population of Americans with Vision Difficulty

According to the 2022 ACS, there were approximately 8.6 million individuals living in the U.S. with vision difficulty.

Age Breakdown

Below are the numbers of individuals with vision difficulty in each age bracket. Percentages in parentheses are the percentage of the total U.S. population from each age bracket who have vision difficulty, according to the 2022 ACS.

• Children under age 18: .6 million (.9%)
• Adults ages 18-64: 4.4 million (2.1%)
• Adults ages 65 and older: 3.6 million (6.2%)

Sex of Americans with Vision Difficulty

According to the 2022 American Community Survey, there were approximately 8.6 million individuals living in the U.S. with vision difficulty. This included 4.7 million females (54.4%) and 3.9 million males (45.6%). The population of people with vision difficulty includes a higher proportion of females (54.4%) than the population without vision difficulty (50.3%).

Race and Ethnicity of Americans with Vision Difficulty

Americans with vision difficulty reported the following racial identities: 5.01 million (58%) are White, 1.36 million (16%) are Black, 300,000 (4%) are Asian, 130,000 million (2%) are American Indian or Alaska Native, 20,000 (.4%) are Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, and 1.73 million (20%) report other races or more than one race.

Regarding ethnicity, an estimated 1.66 million Americans with vision difficulty (19%) are Hispanic or Latino, while an estimated 6.90 million Americans with vision difficulty (81%) are not Hispanic or Latino.

Additional Disabilities

In the 2022 ACS, respondents answered whether or not they experienced six types of difficulty, including vision difficulty. Some Americans who reported vision difficulty also reported having other types of difficulty. Specifically:

• An estimated 2.49 million Americans have both difficulty seeing and difficulty hearing or deafness.
• An estimated 3.59 million Americans age 5 and older have both difficulty seeing and difficulty walking or climbing stairs.
• An estimated 2.82 million Americans age 5 and older have both difficulty seeing and difficulty remembering, concentrating, or making decisions.
• An estimated 1.89 million Americans age 5 and older have both difficulty seeing and difficulty with self-care tasks, such as bathing or dressing.
• An estimated nearly 3.06 million Americans age 15 and older have both difficulty seeing and difficulty with independent living tasks, like shopping or running errands alone.
• An estimated 2.85 million Americans with vision difficulty reported no other difficulties in these areas.

Income Status

According to the 2022 ACS, 22.3% of Americans with vision difficulty have incomes below the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), compared to 19.3% of Americans with other disabilities and 11.2% of Americans without disabilities. Additionally, 31.2% of Americans with vision difficulty have incomes below 138% of the FPL, compared with 27.3% of Americans with other disabilities and 16.5% of Americans without disabilities. These individuals may qualify for SNAP or expanded Medicaid coverage, depending on the state and other eligibility factors. The table below shows the full breakdown of incomes below 100% FPL, 100%-400% FPL, and >400% FPL. Note that individuals with household incomes between 100% and 400% FPL tend to qualify for subsidies on health insurance purchased in a marketplace.

These estimates use the Federal Poverty Threshold, a statistical tool used to consistently estimate whether a household is in poverty for the US Census. This uses a more complex formula for household members than the administrative “Federal Poverty Guidelines” taking into consideration whether the household members are adults or children, but does not vary by geography. For a simple reference point, the Federal Poverty Guideline for a family of 4 in 2022 was $29,678 gross annual income. Read more about definitions of poverty here: https://aspe.hhs.gov/topics/poverty-economic-mobility/poverty-guidelines/frequently-asked-questions-related-poverty-guidelines-poverty