14%
of U.S. adults received counseling or therapy
In 2024, 14.0% of adults said they had received counseling or therapy from a mental-health professional in the past 12 months. The prior-year figure was 13.4%.
Ask Miko industry facts
Behavioral Health Access & Workforce Statistics.
What is changing around the practices doing this work? This source-linked reference brings together a small set of national figures on access, treatment, workforce capacity, and behavioral-health integration.
Last updated October 7, 2026A reference for the work ahead
Start with the facts.
Healthcare and behavioral-health practices are balancing rising care needs with real workforce and access constraints. These figures do not explain every local market, but they give practice leaders, writers, and partners a well-sourced national view of the pressure around the work.
Each statistic is linked to its original public source and dated to the underlying dataset or report. Use the anchors below when you need to point directly to one figure.
19.3%
of U.S. adults took mental-health medication
In 2024, 19.3% of adults reported taking prescription medication for their mental health during the prior 12 months.
23.8%
of adults with mental illness reported an unmet treatment need
In 2023, nearly one in four adults with any mental illness perceived a need for treatment that was not met in the prior year.
Source: SAMHSA, National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2023
137.1M
people lived in designated mental-health shortage areas
As of December 31, 2025, 6,807 U.S. mental-health professional shortage-area designations covered 137,133,953 people. HRSA estimated 6,800 practitioners would be needed to remove those designations.
Source: KFF State Health Facts using HRSA data, December 31, 2025
99,780
mental-health counselor positions could be short by 2038
HRSA projects a shortage of 99,780 full-time-equivalent mental-health counselors by 2038 under its current-use scenario. The projection does not include today’s unmet need.
173,762
Medicare beneficiaries received behavioral-health integration services
In calendar year 2023, 173,762 beneficiaries in fee-for-service Medicare or Medicare Advantage received a behavioral-health integration service. That represented about 0.27% of the total Medicare population.
Source: CMS report to Congress, calendar year 2023 claims data
Methodology & sources
Built to be useful, not noisy.
This page uses government datasets and established health-policy reporting. Figures are reported as the source publishes them. A percentage, count, or projection should be read with its stated year and scope.
We will review this page on a regular cadence, replacing figures when primary sources publish newer material while keeping these direct links stable.
- CDC: National Health Interview Survey reporting on adult counseling, therapy, and medication use.
- SAMHSA: National Survey on Drug Use and Health reporting on mental illness and perceived unmet treatment need.
- HRSA and KFF: Workforce projections and mental-health professional shortage-area reporting.
- CMS: Medicare behavioral-health integration service use from claims-based reporting.
Cite this page
Sharing a statistic?
Suggested citation: Ask Miko Consulting. “Behavioral Health Access & Workforce Statistics, 2026.” Updated October 7, 2026. Include the direct link to the statistic you reference, such as mental-health shortage areas.
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