Deaf Statistics

Holt and Hotto, in Demographic aspects of hearing impairment: questions and answers, state that demographic statistics for individual U.S. states and localities are not available, due to deficiencies in current demographic sampling surveys.

However, the Bureau of the Census has made its own estimates for both deaf and hard of hearing populations in each of the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. These estimates shown below have been extracted from the Bureau's many charts posted online and compiled here. Note: When using this data, it must be remembered that it is not based on any actual counting of deaf people, and so may not be accurate.

Some other estimates may be available from the various state associations of the deaf or the state offices on deafness. The American annals of the deaf annual directory issue (no.2 of each year) lists the addresses of each state association of the deaf under "Organizations and Associations--National Association of the Deaf." The same AAD issue lists various agencies under "Regional and Local Programs," some of which may be able to provide estimates for their areas.

The following figures are model-based estimates based on American Community Survey 1-Year Estimate data for 2016, for "non-institutionalized civilians" (e.g., those in the prison system are not counted). This is the latest information available as of 2016. All of this data is available at Census.gov and the Annual Disability Statistics Compendium for 2017, in Table 1.4, covering working-age civilians, ages 18-64. For a discussion on why this limit is imposed, see page 6 in the NTID Collaboratory report.

Note that the U.S. Census Bureau identifies only "hearing difficulty" in its ACS estimates; as such, the following figures are estimates that include a wide range of hearing loss from deafness to "slight difficulty hearing on the telephone."

Deaf people have not been counted in the U.S. Census as a specific category since 1930. The last census of the U.S. deaf population was privately conducted in 1971, sponsored by the National Association of the Deaf. For figures since then, only estimates are available. See the introduction for a short discussion of the problems of and cautions about deaf demographic statistics.

The Gallaudet Research Institute offers an excellent summary of the estimated population of deaf individuals in the United States in their 2005 answer to this perennial question. Some of their results are reproduced below.

Note that the Gallaudet Research Institute conducts demographic surveys only for deaf and hard of hearing children of school age. It does not manage surveys of the adult deaf and hard of hearing population. Nonetheless, because of repeated inquiries, it has developed its own rough estimates based on 1997-2003 data:

How many of the above are specifically deaf and not hard of hearing? Note how the numbers in the Gallaudet Research Institute's figures from an older analysis, below, change depending on which of three different definitions of "deaf" is used:

The Gallaudet Research Institute offers additional breakdowns of these figures in Demographic aspect of hearing impairments: questions and answers, third edition, http://research.gallaudet.edu/Demographics/factsheet.php.