Americans spend $30.2 billion a year out of pocket on complementary health approaches. That is the most recent official national estimate, it is over a decade old, and it is almost certainly an understatement today. This page lays out what the spending data actually shows, what it includes, and how to cite it responsibly. It expands the spending chapter of our full report, Holistic Health Statistics.
Key spending statistics
- •$30.2 billion per year: US adult out-of-pocket spending on complementary health approaches. Source: NCCIH and CDC, National Health Statistics Reports
- •That equals 9.2% of all out-of-pocket health care spending in the United States.
- •$14.7 billion of it goes to visits to complementary practitioners.
- •It works out to roughly $510 per user per year.
- •The estimate comes from the 2012 National Health Interview Survey, the most recent official national measurement.
What the $30.2 billion covers
The figure comes from a special supplement to the 2012 National Health Interview Survey, analyzed by the NIH's National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health and the CDC. It counts what adults paid out of pocket, not what insurance reimbursed, across three categories: visits to complementary practitioners ($14.7 billion), natural product supplements ($12.8 billion), and self-care approaches such as books, classes, and materials ($2.7 billion).
Two comparisons put the number in scale. It represents 9.2% of everything Americans paid out of pocket for health care that year, and the practitioner-visit portion alone was comparable to out-of-pocket spending on conventional physician services. For the people who use these approaches, this is not marginal spending: it averages roughly $510 per user per year, paid almost entirely without reimbursement.
Why the real number is higher today
No official national update has been published since the 2012 survey, so $30.2 billion is best treated as a floor. Usage has grown substantially since the measurement was taken: 36.7% of US adults used at least one major complementary approach in 2022, up from roughly 33% in 2012, with the fastest growth in practitioner-delivered and class-based practices like yoga and meditation. More users at similar per-user spending arithmetic alone would push the total well above the 2012 figure, before accounting for a decade of price inflation.
When you cite the number, date it. "Americans spend $30.2 billion a year (2012 estimate, the most recent official figure)" is accurate. "Americans spend $30.2 billion a year" without the date implies a current measurement that does not exist. Usage trends since the survey are covered in our usage statistics chapter.
About this data and how to cite it
Figures on this page come from the NIH National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health and the CDC, linked at the point of use, with survey years stated because they matter. You are welcome to cite this page with attribution:
Source: Gyfts, Alternative Medicine Spending Statistics (2026), gyfts.io/blog/alternative-medicine-spending-statistics