ALS is rare , but not vanishingly rare: in the U.S., the CDC says fewer than 30,000 people are living with it, and about 5,000 people are diagnosed each year. The ALS Association also describes a prevalence of about 4–6 people per 100,000, which lines up with it being an uncommon disease.

What that means

  • In everyday terms, most people will never meet someone with ALS.
  • It is still common enough that many families and communities are affected by it.
  • Risk rises with age, and it is slightly more common in men than women.

A simple way to think about it

If a city had 100,000 people, only a handful would be living with ALS at any given time. That is why ALS is usually described as a rare neurodegenerative disease rather than a common one.

Recent context

Recent research in 2026 has continued to identify rare genetic variants that contribute to ALS risk, which reinforces that the disease is biologically uncommon and complex. That does not mean most cases are inherited, but it does show why ALS research is active right now. TL;DR: ALS is rare, with roughly 4–6 cases per 100,000 people and fewer than 30,000 known cases in the U.S..