Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a critical public health issue that impacts millions of individuals across the United States each year. This form of violence occurs within intimate relationships, involving current or former spouses, boyfriends, girlfriends, as well as individuals with whom one has dated, been involved romantically, or had casual romantic encounters. IPV includes a range of harmful behaviors including physical violence, sexual violence, stalking, and psychological aggression perpetrated by an intimate partner.
IPV has far-reaching consequences; those affected often experience long-term detrimental effects on their physical and emotional well-being. Furthermore, IPV imposes a substantial economic burden on society. Peterson and colleagues estimated the lifetime cost of IPV as approximately $103,767 per female victim and $23,414 per male victim, or a total cost of nearly $3.6 trillion at the national level. This data brief provides national and state prevalence estimates for IPV in the United States based on 2023/2024 data from CDC’s National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS).
Key findings include:
- More than 1 in 3 women (34.0%, or nearly 43.5 million) in the U.S. experienced contact sexual violence, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner during their lifetime
- In their lifetime, nearly 1 in 3 women (29.9%) women experienced contact sexual violence, physical violence, and/or stalking and at least one IPV-related impact. These impacts included: being physically injured, missing at least one day of work or school, being concerned for safety, needing medical care, and filing a police report, among others (see box above for a complete listing of IPV-related impacts).
- More than 1 in 6 men (17.0%, or 20.7 million) in the U.S. experienced contact sexual violence, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner during their lifetime (Table 4).
- In their lifetime, about 1 in 8 men (13.0%) experienced contact sexual violence, physical violence, and/or stalking and at least one IPV-related impact.
