$11.5Maverage cost of a data breach in the US in 2026, the highest of any country and more than twice the global $4.99 million

Publisher

IBM (research by Ponemon Institute), Cost of a Data Breach Report

Source type

Vendor data: A company measuring its own customers or panel

What it measures

$11.5M average cost of a data breach in the US in 2026, the highest of any country and more than twice the global $4.99 million

Data period

Breaches Mar 2025 to Feb 2026 (ends 28 Feb 2026)

Published by the source

29 Jul 2026

Who is counted

602 breached organizations in 16 countries and regions, breaches March 2025 to February 2026; 3,558 interviews by Ponemon Institute.

In the source's words

Average breach costs in the US reached a record USD 11.5 million, an 11% increase over last year and nearly double the global average.

Checked at source

23 Oct 2026: Read in the IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report 2026 PDF (IBM asset server). CORRECTED from data.js $10.22M (that was the 2025 report). Country table: United States 11.50 (2026) vs 10.22 (2025). IBM's own text gives the rise as 11% on p.7 and 13% in key findings; the table implies about 12.5%, so we quote no rise.

Reuse

Copyright IBM. Cite with attribution.. Interview-based study of about 600 breached organizations in 16 countries and regions; redraw only from plain numbers with attribution.

Next expected update

31 Jul 2027 (IBM (research by Ponemon Institute), yearly, late July)

Original page

www-api.ibm.com: Cost of a Data Breach Report

Data files

CSV · JSON (stable links)

• 29 Jul 2026Correction$10.22M data.js used the 2025 report value; IBM's 2026 report gives $11.5M.

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