Alzheimer’s disease has become the single most expensive illness in the United States, surpassing the combined costs of cancer and heart disease.
The disease is projected to account for more than $350 billion, or roughly 8 percent of total U.S. healthcare spending, in costs to American society.
Direct costs tied to Alzheimer’s and other dementias reached an estimated $384 billion in 2025, a figure that reflects both medical and long-term care expenses.
Health and long-term care costs for people living with dementia are projected to climb to $409 billion in 2026 and approach nearly $1 trillion by 2050.
An estimated 7.2 million Americans age 65 and older currently live with Alzheimer’s dementia, a number that could grow to 13.8 million by 2060 without major medical breakthroughs.
Alzheimer’s disease was officially listed as the fifth-leading cause of death among people age 65 and older in 2024, underscoring its growing public health footprint.
Deaths from Alzheimer’s have more than doubled between 2000 and 2024, even as deaths from heart disease, the nation’s top killer, have declined over the same period.
A major cost driver is not medical treatment itself but the enormous burden of caregiving that falls on families and unpaid volunteers across the country.
Nearly 13 million Americans provided unpaid care for people with Alzheimer’s or other dementias in 2025, contributing more than 19 billion hours of care valued at more than $446 billion.
A study found that in the last five years of life, the average cost of care for a person with dementia totals more than $415,000 in 2024 dollars, compared with $265,000 for individuals without dementia.
That gap represents a 57 percent difference in end-of-life costs, placing enormous financial strain on middle-class families with little warning or preparation time.
Government programs are absorbing a significant share of the burden, with Medicare and Medicaid expected to spend an estimated $246 billion on Alzheimer’s and dementia care in 2025.
Federal Medicare spending alone is projected at $174 billion, representing 64 percent of the disease’s total direct costs falling to public programs.
“People should be alarmed. This is a health crisis. It’s also an economic crisis for families and government,” one expert quoted in coverage of the data warned.
Without breakthroughs in prevention or treatment, the financial and human toll of Alzheimer’s is set to intensify significantly in the decades ahead.
