What to know
View American Community Survey data on associations of self-reported blindness and serious difficulty seeing with certain social determinants of health (SDOH): poverty, employment, and educational attainment.
Findings
People who self-report as having lower household income or lower educational level are about twice as likely to report that they are blind or have serious difficulty seeing, even when wearing glasses.
People in households:
- Equal to or below the poverty level, or
- Who are unemployed (16+ and in the labor force), or
- With a high school degree/GED or without a high school diploma
had higher rates of blindness or difficulty seeing as compared to those with incomes above the poverty line, those who were not unemployed, and those who were college graduates.
Prevalence rate by poverty
Prevalence rate of self-reported blind or serious difficulty seeing even when wearing glasses by poverty level
Prevalence rate by employment status
Prevalence rate of self-reported blind or serious difficulty seeing even when wearing glasses by employment status
Prevalence rate by educational levels
Prevalence rate of self-reported blind or serious difficulty seeing even when wearing glasses by educational levels
Data and methods
These estimates are from the 2019 American Community Survey (ACS). The ACS asks the question "Are you blind or have serious difficulty seeing even when wearing glasses?" along with other questions on household income, insurance status, educational attainment, and employment status.
The prevalence rate was defined as the number of people who answered yes to the question divided by the total number of respondents who answered yes or no multiplied by 100 for presentation as a percentage.
View this data in the VEHSS data explorer
You can explore these estimates and other data in detail in the VEHSS data explorer:
- Select Vision Problems and Blindness -> Vision Loss and Blindness -> Self-Reported Vision Loss -> Blind or Difficulty Seeing Even With Glasses.
- SDOH results are available at national and state levels by age group, gender, and race/ethnicity.
- Select SDOH indicators under Risk Factor in the Filter box or in the blue Compare box visible when viewing a chart and/or table.