The percentage of US adults who report having or being treated for depression has exceeded 18% in both 2024 and 2025, up about 8% since the initial measurement in 2015. The current rate of 18.3% measured so far in 2025 projects to an estimated 47.8 million Americans suffering from depression. Most of the increase has occurred since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Depression rates have risen dramatically since 2017 among adults under the age of 30, doubling from 13.0% in 2017 to 26.7% in 2025. The current estimate is up from 24.6% measured in 2023, indicating that depression continues to be a worsening problem among young adults. Among those in households earning under $24,000 per year, reports of depression have risen from 22.1% in 2017 to 26.1% in 2023 to 35.1% now, a 13-point increase in eight years. The change for these lower-earning Americans is particularly notable given the nine-point increase since 2023.
Given the GOP and the Trumpf junta's direct assault on the quality of life for everyday Americans, the numbers may be even higher than this survey suggests. More Americans are living with debt and the Dept of Education has begun collecting on delinquent college loans. The BLS reported that grocery prices spiked to their highest level in three years and the job market for recent college graduates has become much more difficult. School shootings and Swatting" hoaxes are taking its on young Americans. NBC reports a dangerous and decreasing trend in the number of children receiving vaccinations, spreading anxiety in the population. Moreover, powerlessness to stop ICE injustices in the US or the Israeli genocide in Gaza, as well as the panoptic industrial-scale wealth appropriation by America's oligarchs, are all grievously adding to the national ennui.
