Young Adult Substance Use and Mental Health Statistics
Adults aged 18 to 25 are drinking less and reporting lower marijuana use than they did in 2021. They still have the highest rate of substance use disorder of any age group, the highest rates of mental illness among adults, and the lowest rate of treatment among people who need it.
This page collects the current federal figures for that age group, national and Georgia-specific, in one place, each labeled by source and year so it can be cited directly.
The Numbers
Every figure below comes from the 2025 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, released by SAMHSA in July 2026, and refers to adults aged 18 to 25 in the civilian, non-institutionalized US population.
| Measure | Figure | How it compares |
|---|---|---|
| Past-year substance use disorder | 23.8%, or 8.6 million people | Highest of any age group |
| Past-year any mental illness | 28.6%, or 10.3 million people | Highest of any adult age group |
| Past-year serious mental illness | 12.1%, or 4.4 million people | Highest of any adult age group |
| Serious thoughts of suicide in the past year | 10.8% | Highest of any adult age group, and down since 2021 |
| Past-month binge drinking | 26.7%, or 9.6 million people | Higher than other age groups, and down from 30.0% in 2021 |
| Past-month marijuana use | 23.3%, or 8.4 million people | Highest of any age group, and down since 2021 |
| Received treatment among those who needed it | 9.6%, or 845,000 people | Lowest of any age group |
| Severe marijuana use disorder among those with one | 25.3% | Compared with 33.4% of adolescents aged 12 to 17 |
On comparisons over time. SAMHSA notes that questionnaire changes made during 2024 mean the 2025 estimates for treatment need and receipt are not directly comparable with earlier years. Substance use trends from 2021 to 2025 are published as comparable by SAMHSA and are described as such here.
Young Adults in Georgia
SAMHSA publishes state-level estimates separately from the national survey. The Georgia figures below come from the 2023-2024 state tables, which combine two survey years and use small area estimation to produce reliable state numbers. They are a different survey period and a different method from the 2025 national figures above, so the two sets should not be compared directly.
| Georgia, ages 18 to 25 | Percentage | People |
|---|---|---|
| Substance use disorder in the past year | 25.90% | About 300,000 |
| Alcohol use disorder | 13.71% | About 159,000 |
| Drug use disorder | 19.03% | About 220,000 |
| Opioid use disorder | 1.26% | About 15,000 |
| Classified as needing substance use treatment | 26.17% | About 306,000 |
| Received substance use treatment | 2.51% | About 29,000 |
| Needed treatment and did not receive it | 89.85% | About 264,000 |
| Any mental illness | 32.62% | About 377,000 |
| Serious mental illness | 9.16% | About 106,000 |
| Co-occurring substance use disorder and any mental illness | 13.09% | About 151,000 |
| Major depressive episode | 13.89% | About 161,000 |
| Serious thoughts of suicide | 12.45% | About 144,000 |
| Binge drinking in the past month | 26.76% | About 310,000 |
| Marijuana use in the past year | 37.49% | About 434,000 |
| Nicotine vaping in the past month | 25.94% | About 300,000 |
The number worth pausing on: of Georgia young adults classified as needing substance use treatment, 89.85 percent did not receive any, roughly 264,000 people. Only about 29,000 did.
Use Is Falling. The Disorder Rate Is Still the Highest.
Between 2021 and 2025, this age group's past-month binge drinking, past-month and past-year marijuana use, past-year substance use disorder, and past-year alcohol use disorder all declined. Past-year drug use disorder showed no significant change over that period. Taken together, the trend runs against the assumption that each new cohort of college-age adults is drinking and using more than the last.
The national increases in marijuana use over the same period were driven by adults aged 26 and older, not by this group.
What has not changed is where the burden sits. Adults 18 to 25 still have the highest rate of past-year substance use disorder of any age group, at 23.8 percent, which is roughly one in four.
The Treatment Gap Is Worst in This Age Group
Across all ages in 2025, 84 percent of people classified as needing substance use treatment did not receive it. For adults aged 18 to 25 the figure is worse: of those who needed treatment, 9.6 percent received it, the lowest share of any age group.
9.6%
Of young adults who needed substance use treatment in 2025, 845,000 people, actually received it.
12.1%
Had a serious mental illness in the past year, more than any other adult age group.
1 in 4
Of young adults with a marijuana use disorder had a severe form of it.
What the survey does and does not show: it establishes the size of the gap, not the reasons for it. Cost, insurance, whether someone recognizes a problem, work and school schedules, transportation, and willingness to seek care can all affect whether a person starts treatment, and the survey does not rank them.
What This Looks Like in Practice
For students and young adults who are clinically appropriate for outpatient care, class schedules, work, transportation, and the belief that treatment always means leaving home for weeks can all make starting care harder.
Partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient programs provide structured treatment without an overnight stay, and some programs offer evening or telehealth options. In 2025, 3.6 million people nationally received substance use treatment by telehealth.
None of that makes outpatient care right for everyone. Severe withdrawal, medical instability, and safety concerns still call for a higher level of care, and an assessment is what determines which applies.
For Student Journalists and Researchers
Hope Harbor Wellness is an outpatient addiction and mental health treatment center in Hiram, Georgia, about 30 minutes west of Atlanta. We compiled this page because the young adult figures are scattered across several federal reports and tables.
Every figure here is labeled with its source and year. If you find something out of date, tell us and we will correct it.
Our clinical team is available as a source for stories on college-age drinking, cannabis use, the overlap between mental health and substance use, or why this age group is least likely to get treatment.
Sources and Methodology
All figures come from the 2025 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, a national survey of the civilian, non-institutionalized population aged 12 and older, released by SAMHSA in July 2026. Percentages are reported as SAMHSA reports them and are not recalculated here.
Primary sources
Georgia data
Related Reading
Georgia addiction statistics
Overdose and treatment-access figures for Georgia, sourced and updated quarterly.
Young adult treatment
How outpatient care works for adults 18 to 25 who are in school or working.
Dual diagnosis
Why substance use and mental health symptoms are treated together rather than in sequence.