GLP-1 statistics 2026: who takes Ozempic, Wegovy and Zepbound, what they cost, and how many stay on them

How many Americans take a GLP-1 drug?

Three independent national surveys in 2025 and 2026 land in the same range, which is what makes the figure trustworthy.

• 12% of US adults currently take a GLP-1 drug for weight loss, diabetes or another condition, and 18% have taken one at some point (KFF Health Tracking Poll, Oct 27 to Nov 2, 2025, n=1,350).
• Women 15%, men 9%: current use by gender in the same poll. Ages 50 to 64: 22%, the highest of any age group; 65 and over: 9%.
• 11% of adults use one for weight loss, up from 3% in 2024; 15% have ever used one for weight loss (Gallup, May 28 to June 5, 2026, n=5,065).
• Nearly 12% of Americans have used a GLP-1 for weight loss, with the highest use among women aged 50 to 64 (RAND, August 2025).
• 45% of adults diagnosed with diabetes currently take one, and 29% of adults with heart disease (KFF 2025).
• 76% got their prescription from a doctor, 17% from an online provider or website, 9% from a medical spa (KFF 2025). Our comparison of the best places to get a GLP-1 online covers that 17%.

Why are midlife women the core group?

The age curve of GLP-1 use follows the age curve of obesity, and both peak in the decade when estrogen falls. Our guide to GLP-1s for menopause weight gain explains the mechanism; these are the numbers.

• 47.4% of US women aged 40 to 59 have obesity, the highest prevalence of any age and sex group; 46.4% for all adults 40 to 59 (CDC / NCHS Data Brief 508, NHANES August 2021 to August 2023).
• Severe obesity affects 12.1% of adult women against 6.7% of men (CDC / NCHS 2024).
• Weight rises about 1.5 pounds a year in women aged 40 to 55, and the menopause transition adds fat mass while lean mass falls (SWAN, JCI Insight 2019).
• 76.7% of new Wegovy and Zepbound users without diabetes are women, with a mean age of 46.3 in a pharmacy-claims cohort of 23,025 people (Prime Therapeutics, June 2025).

How much weight do people lose in the trials?

The two pivotal trials set the expectations most people carry into treatment. They are averages over more than a year, in people who stayed on the drug, with lifestyle support; real-world losses run lower, largely because of the persistence figures in the next section.

• Semaglutide 2.4 mg: 14.9% of body weight lost at 68 weeks, against 2.4% on placebo, in 1,961 adults with obesity or overweight (STEP 1, NEJM 2021).
• Tirzepatide 15 mg: 20.9% at 72 weeks, with 15.0% at the 5 mg dose and 19.5% at 10 mg, against 3.1% on placebo, in 2,539 adults (SURMOUNT-1, NEJM 2022).
• A share of the loss is lean mass, which matters more after 40 than before; our guide on GLP-1s and muscle loss in perimenopause covers how to protect it.

How many people stay on them, and why do they stop?

Persistence is the number the marketing leaves out. It improved sharply once the 2024 shortages ended, but the three-year picture is still stark.

• 62.6% of people who started Wegovy or Zepbound in 2024 were still on it a year later, up from 33.2% for 2021 starters and 40.4% for 2023 (Prime Therapeutics, 2025, n=23,025).
• Only about 1 in 12 remain on a GLP-1 for obesity at three years (Prime Therapeutics, 2025).
• 22% of semaglutide and 16% of tirzepatide patients stopped within the first year in an academic obesity clinic, where support is stronger than in typical care (Obesity, 2025).
• 56% of current and former users say the drugs are hard to afford, including 55% of those with insurance; cost (14%) and side effects (13%) are the most-cited reasons for stopping (KFF 2025). The GLP-1 side effects guide covers the second reason.

What do GLP-1 drugs cost in 2026?

These are the figures we verify on the manufacturers' own pages each month, not averages scraped from coupon sites. The list price is what almost nobody pays; the self-pay ladders are what an uninsured woman actually pays.

• $1,349.02 per month: Wegovy's published list price (WAC) for a 28-day pen box (Wegovy cost).
• $1,079.77 per month: Mounjaro's list price per 28-day carton; Zepbound's sits around $1,086 (Mounjaro cost, Zepbound cost).
• $149 to $299 a month for the Wegovy pill, $199 then $349 to $399 for the pen through Novo Nordisk's self-pay program; GoodRx now mirrors those cash prices (Wegovy savings, verified Sep 8, 2026).
• $299 to $449 a month for Zepbound vials through LillyDirect self-pay (Zepbound cost).
• $25 a month with commercial insurance and a manufacturer savings card, on any dose; $50 a month for Medicare members under the GLP-1 Bridge pilot running July 1, 2026 to December 31, 2027 (Wegovy savings).
• From about $150 a month for compounded semaglutide through a telehealth provider, a different product from the FDA-approved brands (cheapest GLP-1 providers).

Who pays: employers and Medicare

• 43% of firms with 5,000 or more workers cover GLP-1s for weight loss in 2025, up from 28% in 2024; 30% of firms with 1,000 to 4,999 workers and 16% of firms with 200 to 999 do (KFF Employer Health Benefits Survey 2025).
• Medicare did not cover weight-loss drugs at all until the GLP-1 Bridge pilot opened on July 1, 2026, at a flat $50 a month for members who meet its BMI criteria (Wegovy and Medicare).
• Manufacturer savings cards exclude Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE and VA under federal anti-kickback rules, which is why the self-pay ladders exist (Mounjaro savings).

How to cite these statistics

Each bullet links to its primary source with the survey dates and sample size where published. Poll figures (KFF, Gallup, RAND) describe US adults; the Prime Therapeutics figures describe commercially insured members without diabetes. Price figures are ours, re-checked monthly on the manufacturers' and providers' own pages and dated in every table. You are welcome to cite this page with a link so your readers can see the sources and the last update.