Autism services cost U.S. citizens $236-262 billion annually. [6]
Adult services for autism ($175-196 billion), cost more than children services for autism ($61-66 billion). [6]
Over the Lifespan, the cost of autism is about $2.4 million for a person with an intellectual disability, or $1.4 million for a person without an intellectual disability. [6]
Funding in many states ends when an individual with disabilities turns 22. There will be 500,000 individuals on the autism spectrum aging out of services over the next 10 years. [7]
35% of young adults with autism (ages 19-23) have not had a job or received postgraduate education after leaving high school. [8]
There will be 500,000 adults on the autism spectrum aging into adulthood over the next 10 years. Yet a whopping 85% of college grads affected by autism are unemployed, compared to the national unemployment rate of 4.5%. [9]
In total, the combined unemployment and underemployment for young adults with autism is estimated at 90 percent nationwide. People with ASD were said to have a worse “no participation” rate of unemployment than any other disability group tracked in a separate 2012 study from Washington University in St. Louis. [10]