30.5% of US adults sleep less than seven hours a night, a figure that has barely moved in over a decade. The stability is the finding: while nearly every other health behaviour the CDC tracks has shifted since 2013, short sleep has sat between roughly 30% and 35% throughout. Underneath that flat line sit gaps that are anything but flat, with 40.2% of Black non-Hispanic adults reporting short sleep against 27.9% of Asian non-Hispanic adults, and women reporting substantially more difficulty falling and staying asleep despite sleeping the same total hours as men. The figures below come from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics and the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.
TL;DR
- 30.5% of US adults slept less than 7 hours in 2024 (CDC NCHS, 2026)
- The figure has stayed between roughly 30% and 35% for over a decade (CDC)
- Short sleep is nearly identical by sex, 30.6% of men and 30.4% of women (CDC NCHS)
- Adults aged 50 to 64 sleep least, at 34.5% short sleep (CDC NCHS)
- Both 18 to 34 and 65+ sit at 27.2% (CDC NCHS)
- 40.2% of Black non-Hispanic adults report short sleep (CDC NCHS)
- 27.9% of Asian non-Hispanic adults report short sleep, the lowest group (CDC NCHS)
- 15.4% of adults have trouble falling asleep most days or every day (CDC NCHS)
- 18.1% have trouble staying asleep most days or every day (CDC NCHS)
- Women report trouble falling asleep at 18.5% against 12.2% of men (CDC NCHS)
- Women report trouble staying asleep at 21.4% against 14.6% of men (CDC NCHS)
- 54.8% of adults wake up feeling well-rested most days (CDC NCHS)
- A separate CDC survey put short sleep at 33.2% for 2022 (CDC BRFSS)
1. How Many Adults Are Short on Sleep
The headline number is notable less for its level than for how little it moves. 30.5% of US adults slept under seven hours in 2024, and the measure has sat between roughly 30% and 35% for more than a decade, showing no meaningful change between 2013 and 2022 in the parallel BRFSS series. Public awareness of sleep health rose enormously across that period without shifting behaviour at population scale.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Adults sleeping under 7 hours, 2024 | 30.5% | CDC NCHS |
| Same measure, men | 30.6% | CDC NCHS |
| Same measure, women | 30.4% | CDC NCHS |
| BRFSS short sleep prevalence, 2022 | 33.2% | CDC BRFSS |
| BRFSS short sleep, 2020 | about one third | CDC BRFSS |
| Range across the last decade | roughly 30% to 35% | CDC |
| Change between 2013 and 2022 | essentially none | CDC BRFSS |
| Survey behind the 2024 figure | National Health Interview Survey | CDC NCHS |
| Publication date of the 2024 analysis | April 2026 | CDC NCHS |
The gap between 30.5% and 33.2% is a methodology artefact, not a trend: the two CDC systems ask different questions of different samples, and reading one against the other as a decline is the single most common error in sleep coverage. The stability itself deserves more attention than it gets. Over the same decade, smoking rates fell substantially, physical activity guidance was revised, and sleep became a mainstream commercial category complete with tracking hardware and dedicated consumer products. None of it registered at population scale. That pattern usually indicates a behaviour governed by structural conditions such as work schedules, commute length, and caregiving load rather than by individual knowledge or motivation. Source: CDC NCHS, Short Sleep Duration and Sleep Difficulties Among Adults.
2. The Age Curve Is Not a Line
The relationship between age and sleep is the finding most often reported backwards. Adults aged 50 to 64 report the most short sleep at 34.5%, while both 18 to 34 year olds and those 65 and over sit at 27.2%. Sleep duration does not decline steadily with age; it bottoms out in late working life and recovers after retirement, which points at work and caregiving load rather than at biology alone.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Short sleep, ages 18 to 34 | 27.2% | CDC NCHS |
| Short sleep, ages 50 to 64 | 34.5% | CDC NCHS |
| Short sleep, ages 65 and over | 27.2% | CDC NCHS |
| Gap between peak and the youngest group | 7.3 points | Derived from CDC figures |
| Shape of the relationship | inverted curve, not linear | CDC NCHS |
| Trouble falling asleep, ages 18 to 34 | 18.3% | CDC NCHS |
| Trouble falling asleep, ages 65 and over | 12.8% | CDC NCHS |
| Direction of the difficulty measure by age | opposite to duration | Derived from CDC figures |
Note the inversion between the two measures: older adults sleep longer but younger adults report more difficulty falling asleep, so duration and sleep quality diverge by age. Workplace context sits in our workplace burnout statistics. Source: NCHS Data Brief 559 full text.
3. The Racial Gap Is the Largest in the Dataset
No demographic split in this data comes close to the gap by race and ethnicity. 40.2% of Black non-Hispanic adults report short sleep, against 27.9% of Asian non-Hispanic adults, a spread of over 12 points. For comparison, the sex difference on the same measure is 0.2 points. Any account of American sleep that leads with sex or age while omitting this gap is describing the smallest variation in the data.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Short sleep, Black non-Hispanic adults | 40.2% | CDC NCHS |
| Short sleep, Hispanic adults | 29.0% | CDC NCHS |
| Short sleep, White non-Hispanic adults | 28.9% | CDC NCHS |
| Short sleep, Asian non-Hispanic adults | 27.9% | CDC NCHS |
| Spread between highest and lowest | 12.3 points | Derived from CDC figures |
| Spread by sex for comparison | 0.2 points | Derived from CDC figures |
| National average | 30.5% | CDC NCHS |
| Black non-Hispanic rate versus national average | approx. 10 points higher | Derived from CDC figures |
Research on the determinants of this gap points to shift work, neighbourhood noise and light, and psychosocial stress rather than to anything intrinsic, which makes it a structural finding rather than a demographic one. Source: Sleep health inequities research.
4. Difficulty Is a Separate Measure From Duration
Hours slept and trouble sleeping are different questions with different answers, and conflating them produces most of the confusion in sleep coverage. 15.4% of adults have trouble falling asleep most days or every day, and 18.1% have trouble staying asleep, against 30.5% who simply sleep too little. Roughly half of short sleepers are not reporting difficulty at all; they are awake by choice or circumstance.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Trouble falling asleep, most days or every day | 15.4% | CDC NCHS |
| Trouble staying asleep, most days or every day | 18.1% | CDC NCHS |
| Trouble falling asleep, women | 18.5% | CDC NCHS |
| Trouble falling asleep, men | 12.2% | CDC NCHS |
| Trouble staying asleep, women | 21.4% | CDC NCHS |
| Trouble staying asleep, men | 14.6% | CDC NCHS |
| Trouble falling asleep, Asian non-Hispanic adults | 9.0% | CDC NCHS |
| Trouble staying asleep, Asian non-Hispanic adults | 9.2% | CDC NCHS |
| Trouble staying asleep, White non-Hispanic adults | 20.7% | CDC NCHS |
The sex pattern flips entirely between the two measure types: men and women sleep the same number of hours, but women report roughly 50% more difficulty on both difficulty questions. Related digital behaviour data sits in our screen time and digital wellbeing statistics, and treatment-app context in our mental health app statistics. Source: CDC NCHS Data Brief 559.
5. Feeling Rested Is Its Own Question
The most useful single measure may be the one least often quoted, because it captures the outcome rather than the input. 54.8% of adults wake up feeling well-rested most days or every day, meaning roughly 45% do not. That is a larger affected population than either the short-sleep measure or either difficulty measure, and the demographic ordering differs from all of them.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Wake up well-rested most days or every day | 54.8% | CDC NCHS |
| Do not wake up well-rested most days | approx. 45.2% | Derived from CDC figures |
| Well-rested, men | 58.2% | CDC NCHS |
| Well-rested, women | 51.7% | CDC NCHS |
| Well-rested, Asian non-Hispanic adults | 61.5% | CDC NCHS |
| Well-rested, Hispanic adults | 57.6% | CDC NCHS |
| Well-rested, White non-Hispanic adults | 54.3% | CDC NCHS |
| Well-rested, Black non-Hispanic adults | 51.4% | CDC NCHS |
| Spread across race and ethnicity groups | 10.1 points | Derived from CDC figures |
Asian non-Hispanic adults lead on every quality measure here while sitting near the middle on duration, which is the clearest evidence in the dataset that hours slept and sleep quality are only loosely coupled. Social connection context sits in our loneliness statistics. Source: NCHS Data Brief 559 full text.
Summary: Sleep by the Numbers
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Adults sleeping under 7 hours | 30.5% | CDC NCHS |
| Short sleep, men | 30.6% | CDC NCHS |
| Short sleep, women | 30.4% | CDC NCHS |
| Short sleep, ages 18 to 34 | 27.2% | CDC NCHS |
| Short sleep, ages 50 to 64 | 34.5% | CDC NCHS |
| Short sleep, ages 65 and over | 27.2% | CDC NCHS |
| Short sleep, Black non-Hispanic adults | 40.2% | CDC NCHS |
| Short sleep, Hispanic adults | 29.0% | CDC NCHS |
| Short sleep, White non-Hispanic adults | 28.9% | CDC NCHS |
| Short sleep, Asian non-Hispanic adults | 27.9% | CDC NCHS |
| Trouble falling asleep | 15.4% | CDC NCHS |
| Trouble falling asleep, women | 18.5% | CDC NCHS |
| Trouble falling asleep, men | 12.2% | CDC NCHS |
| Trouble staying asleep | 18.1% | CDC NCHS |
| Trouble staying asleep, women | 21.4% | CDC NCHS |
| Trouble staying asleep, men | 14.6% | CDC NCHS |
| Wake up well-rested | 54.8% | CDC NCHS |
| Well-rested, men versus women | 58.2% versus 51.7% | CDC NCHS |
| Well-rested, Asian non-Hispanic adults | 61.5% | CDC NCHS |
| BRFSS short sleep, 2022 | 33.2% | CDC BRFSS |
| Decade-long range | roughly 30% to 35% | CDC |
| Survey behind the 2024 figures | National Health Interview Survey | CDC NCHS |
Methodology and Sources
- Short sleep duration, difficulty measures, well-rested rates, and all demographic breakdowns come from NCHS Data Brief 559, Short Sleep Duration and Sleep Difficulties Among Adults: United States, 2024, published by the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics in April 2026 and based on the National Health Interview Survey (CDC, full text, PDF, PubMed record).
- Parallel prevalence figures and the decade-long trend come from the CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and its published analyses (CDC sleep facts and statistics, geographic patterns analysis).
- Research on the structural determinants behind the demographic gaps comes from peer-reviewed analysis of BRFSS data (sleep health inequities, journal version).
- Data watch: every figure here is self-reported rather than measured by actigraphy or polysomnography, and self-reported sleep duration is known to differ from objectively measured sleep, generally in the direction of over-reporting. The NHIS figure of 30.5% and the BRFSS figure of 33.2% are not comparable and should never be presented as a trend, because the two systems use different questions, modes, and samples; the NHIS data covers 2024 and the BRFSS figure covers 2022. All data is United States only. The demographic gaps reported here are associations and the brief itself does not model causes. Rows marked as derived are arithmetic on published figures.
- Last updated: August 2, 2026. We update this roundup quarterly as the CDC publishes new NHIS and BRFSS sleep data.