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Statin statistics 2025

How many people are taking statins, how much we spend on these cholesterol-lowering drugs, and more
Sarah Bradley writer headshot
By | Jun. 5, 2025 Medically reviewed by Chad Shaffer, MD

Key takeaways

  • Less than half of U.S. adults who could benefit from statin use report taking one to manage their cholesterol.

  • Worldwide, statin use is more common in high-income countries than low-income countries due to issues with accessibility and affordability.

  • In the U.S., annual spending on statins is around $10 billion.

  • The most common side effect of statin use is muscle pain, affecting up to 10% of people on statins. However, you’re more likely to have side effects if you take a high dose, use other medications that interact with statins, or drink alcohol. 

In this article:

Approximately 11% of American adults have high cholesterol, and approximately 35% of these Americans are taking a statin. These drugs are designed to lower low-density lipoproteins (LDL), reduce triglyceride levels, and slightly raise high-density lipoproteins (HDL). Here’s what statin use looks like in 2025, including how many people are taking them, which statin medications are most commonly prescribed, and how many people experience side effects while taking these drugs.

Prevalence of high cholesterol

  • In the U.S., about 11.3% of U.S. adults ages 20 and older have high cholesterol. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2024) 
  • High total cholesterol levels were most prevalent among adults between the ages of 40 and 59. (CDC, 2020)
  • Worldwide, approximately 39% of the adult population has high cholesterol. (World Heart Federation)
  • Across the U.S., the states with the highest prevalence of high cholesterol include Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Michigan, Maine, South Carolina, and Kansas. (CDC, 2024)
  • Men are usually more likely to have high LDL (“bad” cholesterol) levels than women, with the exception being that non-Hispanic white women have a higher prevalence than non-Hispanic white men. (American Heart Association, 2019)
  • All races are affected by high cholesterol, without significant differences among races in the prevalence of high total cholesterol. Between 2015 and 2018, almost 11% of Hispanic adults had high cholesterol, compared to almost 12% of non-Hispanic white adults, almost 12% of non-Hispanic Asian adults, and 10% of non-Hispanic Black adults. (CDC 2020)

Statins use in the U.S.

  • As of 2019, 35% of Americans were taking some kind of statin to treat their cholesterol levels. This was a large increase from 2009, when only 12% of Americans were taking a statin. (Saudi Pharmaceutical Journal, 2023)
  • Men are more likely to take statins compared to women. In fact, a 2023 study found that women were significantly less willing to take statins recommended by a healthcare provider. JAMA Network Open, 2023) 
  • Across ethnicities, statin use varies widely, even when people are at a high risk for heart disease. For example, one 2023 study showed that more than 37% of high-risk White participants took statins compared to less than 24% of high-risk Black and Hispanic participants. (JAMA Cardiology, 2023)
  • New research into the methods that help providers identify adults who could benefit from statins suggests more than 4 million Americans may be taking statins that they don’t actually need, based on a newer cardiovascular disease risk calculation method. (JAMA Internal Medicine, 2024)

Statins use worldwide

  • Around 200 million adults worldwide use statins. (European Society of Cardiology, 2019)
  • Between 2015 and 2020, worldwide statin use increased. However, people living in high-income countries are far more likely to use statins than people in low-income countries, so the increase hasn’t been evenly distributed in other parts of the world. (BMJ Open, 2022)
  • The disparity in statin use between high- and low-income countries typically has to do with accessibility of these medications as well as their affordability. Public healthcare facilities have less access to them than privately owned facilities, and the average per-month cost of statins varies widely by country. (PLOS Global Public Health, 2024)
  • As of 2020, the countries with the highest number of daily statin doses per 1,000 people included Denmark, Canada, the United Kingdom, Norway, and the U.S. The countries with the lowest statin use that year were Indonesia, Peru, India, Venezuela, and Morocco. (Our World in Data, 2024)

Types of statins

All statins work by blocking your liver from making cholesterol, but there are many different statin medications that do this. “What sets them apart from one another,” says Joanna Lewis, Pharm.D., founder of The Pharmacist’s Guide, “is how they’re each absorbed, distributed, and broken down by your body, as well as how much of the drug actually makes it to your bloodstream (a.k.a. their bioavailability).” 

Some statins also vary in potency, Dr. Lewis adds, with some decreasing LDL cholesterol at higher percentages than others. These are called high-intensity statins; most statins have a range of intensity, based on their dosage.

  • Globally, Lipitor (atorvastatin) is the statin most popularly searched for online, which experts typically agree is a good indicator of how often a drug is prescribed compared to others in its class. Crestor (rosuvastatin) and Zocor (simvastatin) are the second and third most commonly searched for statins (British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 2019).
  • These statistics also hold true for the U.S., where about 36% of statin prescriptions are for Lipitor, and about 34% are for Zocor.
  • In the U.S., about 60% of statin prescriptions are for moderate-intensity statins. (Saudi Pharmaceutical Journal, 2023) 

 The cost of statins

  • The U.S. healthcare system spends about $10 billion on statins each year. Total patient spending is about $3 billion out-of-pocket (OOP) every year for statin medications. (Saudi Pharmaceutical Journal, 2023)
  • In 2019, Medicare spent around $5 billion on statins, an increase from 2013. (Saudi Pharmaceutical Journal, 2023)
  • Between 2013 and 2019, overall statin spending increased, but OOP spending decreased. However, OOP spending varies across races: non-Hispanic Asians pay an average of $141 per month, compared to other populations (like Hispanics and non-Hispanic White people) who spend between $55 and $71 per month. (Saudi Pharmaceutical Journal, 2023)

Side effects of statins

  • The possible side effects of statins include muscle pain, liver damage, and an increased risk of Type 2 diabetes. 
  • Not everyone experiences these symptoms: Muscle pain occurs in about 1%–10% of people taking statins, and liver enzyme elevation in about 1%. Your risk of developing Type 2 diabetes may go up by around 9% on statins. (Acta Cardiologica Sinica, 2016)
  • A small number of people may develop serious muscle damage on statins, a condition called rhabdomyolysis. However, this is rare, affecting less than 0.1% of people. (Acta Cardiologica Sinica, 2016)
  • Some newer studies suggest the likelihood of muscle pain or damage while taking statins may be less than originally thought. (The Lancet, 2022)
  • Taking higher doses of statins or combining statins with other medications or alcohol may increase your risk of side effects. (Acta Cardiologica Sinica, 2016)
  • Being female, over 80 years old, and having hypothyroidism may also increase your risk of side effects from statins. (Mayo Clinic, 2025)

Frequently asked questions about statins

How long do you need to take statins?

Most people need to take statins for life, according to Dr. Lewis, unless they experience an allergic reaction or adverse side effects. If you’ve been prescribed statins, it’s probably because your body makes too much cholesterol. Without statins, it will continue to make too much. (Cleveland Clinic, 2024) 

Other medications that lower cholesterol can be used in place of statins for people who can’t take them.

How long does it take for statins to start working?

“In general, statins take between two and four weeks to start lowering your cholesterol,” says Dr. Lewis. But if you need a higher dose than originally prescribed, it will take longer for the medication to work to its full potential. For example, Dr. Lewis says if your provider is slowly titrating you up to a higher dose, it can take up to six months to get the desired effect on your cholesterol levels.

Are there any alternatives to statins?

Yes. According to Sarah Bonza, MD, primary care and family medicine physician with Bonza Health, people with advanced liver impairment and anyone who experiences severe muscle pain as a side effect of statins will need to use a different type of medication to lower cholesterol. Instead of statins, she says your healthcare provider may prescribe: 

Do statins cause weight gain?

Dr. Bonza says there is no scientific evidence linking statin use to weight gain or weight loss. However, statins can cause other symptoms, like fatigue, muscle pain, and insulin resistance, which could lead to weight gain over time.