The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) counted 5,182 confirmed measles cases in the United States through Nov. 5, the highest count for any year since 1991, as state death reports exceeded its national figure.
Of the cases, 4,993, or 96%, were outbreak-associated. The CDC reported 43 new outbreaks in 2026. Its total includes 5,164 cases across 47 jurisdictions and 18 among international visitors to the United States.
The 2026 count is preliminary and may change. The CDC's historical data list 9,643 cases in 1991 and 2,289 for all of 2025, so this year's tally has already more than doubled last year's total.
State health departments have announced more deaths than the CDC currently lists nationally. The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported six measles-associated deaths as of Nov. 6. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services reported an infant's death associated with an outbreak, while the New York State Department of Health and Lewis County Public Health announced a child's measles-associated death.
Together, the state announcements amount to at least eight deaths; the CDC's national page lists four for 2026. The agency says its figure can change as information and reviews are completed. It is working with the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists on a standardized definition for measles deaths. EconoTimes previously reported U.S. measles cases passing 4,500.
The case rise comes as measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination coverage among U.S. kindergartners remains below the CDC's 95% benchmark for community immunity. Coverage was 92.4% in the 2025-26 school year, down from 95.2% in 2019-20. CDC data put the number of kindergartners without recorded completion of the MMR series at about 280,000 in 2025-26.
The CDC classified measles as eliminated in the United States in 2000, a status it defines as a full year without sustained transmission in a geographic area.
