Key points
- A CDC survey from October and November 2023 found that 6.0% of US adults reported a current ADHD diagnosis, and 55.9% of them were diagnosed at 18 or older.
- The CDC survey publishes no state estimates, and no measured New Jersey adult ADHD rate was found as of October 2026.
- New Jersey had 17.3 psychiatrists per 100,000 people in January 2025 provider data, close to the US figure of 17.7.
- County rates ranged from 42.6 psychiatrists per 100,000 in Mercer to 3.5 in Gloucester, with Salem, Cape May and Hudson also below 7.
- As of December 31, 2025, New Jersey had 42 federal mental health shortage designations, with 52.27% of estimated need met.
Search for a New Jersey adult ADHD rate and you will find confident numbers on clinic and directory sites. None of them is a measured New Jersey figure. This page sets out what has actually been counted, who counted it, and what the published data say about the clinicians available to adults in the state. Where no New Jersey number exists, it says so.
The national figure: 6.0% of adults report a current diagnosis
The most recent federal estimate comes from the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics. It surveyed adults in October and November 2023 and published the results on October 10, 2024. It found that 6.0% of US adults reported a current ADHD diagnosis, about 15.5 million people, or roughly 1 in 16.
Other findings from the same survey:
- 55.9% of adults with current ADHD said they were diagnosed at age 18 or older.
- 50.4% had been prescribed ADHD medication in the previous 12 months, and 36.5% were receiving no ADHD treatment of any kind.
- Among adults who took a stimulant in the past year, 71.5% said they had trouble getting a prescription filled because the medication was unavailable.
- 46.0% had at some point received ADHD care by telehealth.
The limits travel with the numbers. Diagnosis was self-reported, not checked against medical records. The survey completed 7,046 interviews, and 444 of those respondents had current ADHD. The report presents national estimates only. It gives no figure for New Jersey or any other state.
Why other numbers look different
You will also see 4.4% quoted for adults. That figure comes from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication, published in 2006, which used clinician-assessed cases among respondents aged 18 to 44. The same study found that only about 10.9% of adults with ADHD had received ADHD-specific treatment in the prior 12 months. A 2021 global meta-analysis shows how much the definition matters: it estimated persistent adult ADHD with childhood onset at 2.58% and symptomatic adult ADHD regardless of onset at 6.76%.
| Source | What was measured | Figure |
|---|---|---|
| CDC/NCHS survey, 2023 | US adults reporting a current diagnosis | 6.0% |
| National Comorbidity Survey Replication (published 2006) | US adults 18 to 44 meeting criteria on clinician assessment | 4.4% |
| Global meta-analysis, 2021 | Persistent adult ADHD with childhood onset | 2.58% |
| Global meta-analysis, 2021 | Symptomatic adult ADHD regardless of onset | 6.76% |
These measure different things with different methods. Setting them side by side does not show that ADHD became more common.
What does not exist: a New Jersey figure
As of October 2026, no measured adult ADHD prevalence for New Jersey was found from the CDC, the New Jersey Department of Health or any other public agency. The national survey above publishes no state estimates.
Prescription data do not fill the gap either. A CDC analysis of commercially insured people found that the share with at least one stimulant fill rose from 3.6% in 2016 to 4.1% in 2021, with relative increases of 14% to 18% from 2020 to 2021 in each five-year age group of women from 25 to 44. That report states that state-level results are not reported. A separate published analysis of stimulant dispensing by state reports a range from 1.0 per 100 people in Hawaii to 13.6 per 100 in Alabama in 2019, and its text does not give a figure for New Jersey. Prescriptions also measure treatment, not how many people have the condition.
The only honest way to talk about New Jersey is as an estimate with a label on it. If New Jersey matched the national rate, about 1 in 16 adults would report a current diagnosis. Nobody has measured whether it does.
What New Jersey's workforce data show
New Jersey does have recent, county-level counts of behavioral health clinicians. A June 2026 data brief from the WWAMI Rural Health Research Center at the University of Washington used federal National Provider Identifier records from January 2025 and Census population data.
- Psychiatrists: 17.3 per 100,000 people in New Jersey (1,643 psychiatrists), close to the US figure of 17.7.
- Psychiatric nurse practitioners: 12.5 per 100,000 in New Jersey (1,189), against 11.5 nationally.
- Psychologists: 33.4 per 100,000 in New Jersey, below the US figure of 38.7.
The statewide average hides a wide spread between counties.
| Most psychiatrists per 100,000 | Rate | Fewest psychiatrists per 100,000 | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mercer | 42.6 | Gloucester | 3.5 |
| Bergen | 26.0 | Salem | 4.6 |
| Camden | 25.7 | Cape May | 5.3 |
| Burlington | 21.7 | Hudson | 6.1 |
| Somerset | 21.3 | Cumberland and Warren | 7.1 each |
Two cautions apply. First, the brief counts clinicians registered in the federal provider system, which shows where clinicians are listed. It does not show who treats adult ADHD, who is taking new patients, or who accepts a given insurance plan. Second, under the federal rural definition the brief uses, every New Jersey county counts as urban, so low numbers in a county are not explained by the county being rural. A low county figure also does not mean residents have no access, since many people cross county lines for care or use video visits.
Federal shortage designations
As of December 31, 2025, New Jersey had 42 federal mental health Health Professional Shortage Area designations, covering a population of 690,095, with 52.27% of estimated need met. Federal data put the number of additional practitioners needed to remove those designations at 34. Nationally, 27.29% of need was met.
Many designations cover a specific group, such as a low-income population, or a single facility, not a whole county. The figure does not mean that 690,095 New Jerseyans have no psychiatrist.
What the numbers do not show
- Undiagnosed adults. A survey of people who report a diagnosis cannot count those never evaluated.
- Accuracy of diagnoses. Self-report cannot show how many diagnoses followed a full evaluation.
- Differences inside New Jersey. Nothing published compares adult ADHD rates between North, Central and South Jersey or the Shore.
- ADHD-specific access. Workforce and shortage data describe mental health care broadly, not ADHD care.
- Waits. No published wait time for an adult ADHD evaluation in New Jersey was found as of October 2026.
Statistics describe populations. Whether one person meets criteria is a clinical question, answered by an evaluation like the one described on the adult ADHD evaluation page. If you want a starting point before talking to anyone, the adult ADHD self-test is a screening tool, not a diagnosis.
Where to go next
How adult ADHD care works in New Jersey maps the whole path, and who can diagnose ADHD in New Jersey explains the licenses involved. If the county numbers above match your experience, see what to do when you cannot find an in-network psychiatrist or adult ADHD care in South Jersey. For the same analysis across the river, read adult ADHD statistics in New York.
Dr. John C. Shershow, M.D., is a psychiatrist focused on adult ADHD who is licensed in New Jersey and New York and sees adults 18 and older. For a video visit, you must be physically located in New Jersey or New York at the time of the visit.
Questions
What percentage of adults in New Jersey have ADHD?
No one has measured it. The CDC's 2023 survey gives a national figure of 6.0% of adults reporting a current diagnosis and publishes no state estimates. Applying that rate to New Jersey gives an estimate only.
Does New Jersey have fewer psychiatrists than other states?
Not on average. January 2025 federal provider data put New Jersey at 17.3 psychiatrists per 100,000 people, close to the US figure of 17.7. The bigger issue is distribution, since some counties have several times more psychiatrists per resident than others.
Which New Jersey counties have the fewest psychiatrists per resident?
In a June 2026 University of Washington data brief, Gloucester (3.5 per 100,000), Salem (4.6), Cape May (5.3) and Hudson (6.1) had the lowest rates. These counts show where clinicians are registered, not who is accepting new adult ADHD patients.
Is adult ADHD becoming more common?
The available surveys cannot answer that. The 4.4% estimate published in 2006 and the 6.0% figure from 2023 used different methods, ages and definitions, so the gap between them is not a measured rise.
Are most adults with ADHD diagnosed as children?
In the CDC's 2023 survey, 55.9% of adults with a current diagnosis said they were diagnosed at 18 or older. The diagnostic criteria still require that symptoms began in childhood, even when the diagnosis comes later.
Sources
- CDC MMWR: ADHD Diagnosis, Treatment, and Telehealth Use in Adults, NCHS Rapid Surveys System, United States, October-November 2023 (October 10, 2024)
- Kessler et al., American Journal of Psychiatry: The prevalence and correlates of adult ADHD in the United States, National Comorbidity Survey Replication (April 2006)
- Song et al., Journal of Global Health: The prevalence of adult ADHD, a global systematic review and meta-analysis (February 2021)
- CDC MMWR: Trends in Stimulant Prescription Fills Among Commercially Insured Children and Adults, United States, 2016-2021 (March 31, 2023)
- Board et al., Drug and Alcohol Dependence: Trends in stimulant dispensing by age, sex, state of residence, and prescriber specialty, United States, 2014-2019 (December 2020)
- WWAMI Rural Health Research Center, University of Washington: The Supply and Rural-Urban Distribution of the Behavioral Health Workforce in New Jersey (June 2026)
- KFF: Mental Health Care Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs), from HRSA data as of December 31, 2025
