How many people use WhatsApp in the United States?

More than 100 million monthly active users, as Mark Zuckerberg announced in July 2024. That equals roughly 29% of US adults according to Pew Research Center. It was the first time Meta disclosed a US user figure.

Do Hispanic consumers prefer WhatsApp?

Hispanics are the group that uses WhatsApp the most in the United States: 54% of Hispanic adults use it, compared with 31% of Black adults and 20% of White adults, according to Pew Research Center. If your customers are Hispanic, WhatsApp is the channel where they already are.

How much does the WhatsApp Business API cost in the United States?

Meta charges per delivered template: approximately $0.006 per utility message and $0.004 per authentication message to US numbers. Replying to customers who message you is free within the 24-hour window. Marketing templates to US numbers have been paused by Meta since April 2025.

Is WhatsApp free for business?

The WhatsApp Business app is free and works for a small business replying by hand. The WhatsApp Business API (the one that lets you automate with AI agents and connect your systems) charges cents per template you initiate, but replying to inbound messages within the 24-hour window costs nothing.

WhatsApp Statistics for Businesses in the USA (2026)

This page collects verified statistics about WhatsApp in the United States: how many people use it, how heavily Hispanics use it, what customers expect when they message a business, and what the WhatsApp Business API costs. It is written for business owners (especially Hispanic-owned businesses in the US) who want to decide with data, and for anyone who needs citable, sourced numbers. Figures verified in August 2026. Every statistic links to its original source.

WhatsApp usage in the United States

WhatsApp passed 3 billion monthly active users worldwide, as Mark Zuckerberg announced on Meta's Q1 2025 earnings call (source: TechCrunch)
WhatsApp passed 100 million monthly active users in the United States in July 2024, the first time Meta disclosed a US user figure (source: TechCrunch)
29% of US adults use WhatsApp, lower adoption than in Latin America but growing (source: Pew Research Center)

Hispanic users and WhatsApp

54% of Hispanic adults in the United States use WhatsApp, more than any other group: 51% of Asian adults, 31% of Black adults, and 20% of White adults (source: Pew Research Center)
WhatsApp use among US Latinos rose 8 percentage points between 2021 and 2024, from 46% to 54% (source: DDIA)
12% of US Latinos say they get their news from WhatsApp, a sign the app is part of daily life and not just a family chat (source: DDIA)
29% of Latino teens in the United States use WhatsApp regularly, which means the next generation of Hispanic customers will be there too (source: DDIA)

Messaging and customer expectations

The following figures come from a Meta-commissioned Kantar survey in 2025 of 11,056 adults across 22 markets including the United States:

73.3% of consumers prefer messaging to communicate with a business, ahead of calls and email (source: Meta, State of Business Messaging)
72.4% of consumers say they are more likely to purchase from a brand that offers messaging (source: Meta, State of Business Messaging)
74.6% of consumers trust a business more if they can exchange messages with it (source: Meta, State of Business Messaging)
66.8% of consumers feel frustrated when a business does not offer messaging as a contact option (source: Meta, State of Business Messaging)
69% of consumers say waiting on hold (on the phone or in a live chat) is a waste of their time (source: Meta, State of Business Messaging)
67.7% of consumers find getting an answer from an AI chatbot helpful (source: Meta, State of Business Messaging)

WhatsApp Business and API costs

Every day there are more than 1 billion active conversation threads between people and businesses on WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram, according to Meta (source: Meta Newsroom)
The WhatsApp Business app passed 200 million monthly active users in June 2023, four times the 50 million it had in 2020 (source: TechCrunch)
More than one million businesses already use Meta Business Agent, Meta's free bot, to answer customers on WhatsApp and Messenger (source: Meta Newsroom)
On the WhatsApp Business API, replying to customers who message first is free within the 24-hour customer service window: all non-template messages carry no charge (source: Meta for Developers)
A utility template (confirmations, reminders, shipping updates) to a US number costs approximately $0.006 per delivered message (source: Message Central)
An authentication template (verification codes) to a US number costs approximately $0.004 per delivered message (source: Message Central)
Meta paused marketing templates (promotions and mass campaigns) to US numbers starting April 1, 2025, with no announced return date (source: Message Central)

What these numbers mean for a small business

If you run a small business in the United States and your customers are Hispanic, the conclusion is direct: more than half of your potential customers already use WhatsApp every day, seven out of ten would rather message you than call you, and they trust a business more when they can text it. The cost of being there is cents: replying to whoever messages you is free, and the templates you initiate cost less than a penny.

The question is not whether your customers are on WhatsApp. It is whether anyone answers them in time. If you want to know what automating those replies costs, see our guide to WhatsApp AI agent pricing in 2026. If you are setting up the official channel, review the WhatsApp Business API requirements in the USA. And if you would rather have it done for you, here is how our WhatsApp AI agent works.