Autism rates in the United States have reached a record high, with about one in 31 children (3.2%) identified with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), according to a report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on April 15. This represents a 22% increase since 2020 and a 375% increase since monitoring began in 2000. The findings come from the CDC’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, which tracked autism prevalence in 16 communities nationwide. In New Jersey, the rate was slightly higher at 3.4% (one in 29 children), up 18% from two years ago.
Perhaps most notable is a significant demographic shift. For the first time, autism is more prevalent among minority children than white children. Rates per 1,000 children were highest among Asian and Pacific Islander (38.2), American Indian and Alaska Native (37.5), Black (36.6) and Hispanic (33.0) populations, compared with 27.7 among white children.
“There’s been a very interesting, barely acknowledged and not understood shifting in the demographic profile of autism,” said Walter Zahorodny, an associate professor of pediatrics at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, director of the New Jersey Autism Study and a coauthor of the report. “When we started, and maybe for the first 15 years, autism was over-represented among affluent communities and white communities compared to minority and low-income communities.” To read the full story.