Urgent Care Center and Retail Health Clinic Use: United States, 2024

This Data Brief describes estimates of urgent care center and retail health clinic use in the United States by age group and urbanization level.

Data from the 2024 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) sample adult and sample child interview, a nationally representative household survey of the U.S. civilian noninstitutionalized population, was used to provide estimates for having at least one visit to an urgent care center in the past 12 months or at least one visit to a retail health clinic in the past 12 months. In 2024, NHIS updated the questionnaire content on retail health clinic and urgent care center visits by separating the two entities into two questions. Results: In 2024, among people of all ages, 27.6% had at least one visit to an urgent care center and 19.0% had at least one visit to a retail health clinic in the past 12 months. The percentage of adults ages 18-64 who had at least one visit to an urgent care center was lower among those living in large central metropolitan (26.6%) and nonmetropolitan (26.1%) areas compared with those living in large fringe metropolitan areas (31.5%) and medium and small metropolitan (30.6%) areas. Among all age groups, the percentage who had at least one visit to a retail health clinic was higher in those living in large central metropolitan and large fringe metropolitan areas compared with those living in medium and small metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas.