The number of measles cases nationwide in 2026 has passed the total for all of last year, Johns Hopkins University said Wednesday, noting it’s the highest since 1991.
As of Wednesday, 2,295 measles cases have been recorded across the U.S. in 2026, beating out the 2,286 of 2025.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has not updated its case total for the year since last Friday, says there were 2,289 confirmed cases of measles in the U.S. in 2025, with 2,260 this year.
The largest outbreak of measles in 2026 has centered on Spartanburg, South Carolina, with over 600 cases versus the 330 cases of 2025, according to Johns Hopkins.
The South Carolina outbreak ended earlier this year with nearly 1,000 total cases recorded.
In the past two weeks, an outbreak in central Virginia has had the most cases, with 32, followed by Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where 18 cases have been recorded, according to the university tracker.
The number of measles cases in 2025 and 2026 is the highest the U.S. has seen since 1992, when 2,126 cases were recorded across the U.S., according to CDC data. The last year to have more measles cases than 2025 or 2026 was 1991, when the CDC confirmed 9,643 cases.
Measles levels dropped after 1992 due to rising vaccination rates, leading health authorities to declare the disease eliminated in 2000. Areas with lower vaccination rates have helped spur the new outbreaks.
“High vaccination coverage has protected even the un- and undervaccinated because of herd protection, keeping measles at bay for the past few decades. But in communities with pockets of susceptible individuals across a broad age range, measles has been able to take hold, infecting those who are susceptible and spreading rapidly,” Dr. William Moss, executive director of the school’s International Vaccine Access Center, said in a release.
The university found that since Jan. 1, 2025, 95% of measles cases nationwide occurred in people who were unvaccinated or had an unknown vaccination status.
Getting one dose of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine is 93% effective at preventing someone from contracting measles, while getting the recommended two doses of the MMR vaccine is 97% effective, the CDC says on its website.
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