The current 2026 no-show rate band for 11 industries. Every number cites a primary source with the year the data was collected. No vendor-blog round-trips. Where a number is estimated by triangulation, we say so explicitly.
| Industry / segment | Rate | Trend | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Healthcare (all) | 23% | Stable | JAMA 2022 meta-analysis, 5.9M appointments |
| Primary care | 19% | Slight improvement | MGMA 2024 DataDive |
| Specialist (avg) | 11% | Stable | MGMA 2024 DataDive |
| Behavioral health | 35% | Improving with telehealth | Kruse et al systematic review 2018 |
| Dental | 18% | Stable | JADA 2023 industry survey |
| FQHC (medical) | 32% | Stable, widening variance | HRSA UDS 2023 |
| Urgent care (scheduled) | 12% | Stable | Solv 2024 industry report |
| Restaurants | 20% | Elevated post-pandemic | OpenTable 2023 industry report |
| Salons and spas | 30% | Stable | Phorest 2023 industry report |
| Fitness | 25% | Slowly improving | Mindbody 2023 wellness report |
| Hotel bookings | 18% | Improving with deposits | STR 2024 industry data |
Methodology note: rates are 12-month rolling averages where the source supports that interpretation. Where the source is a point-in-time survey (OpenTable, Phorest, Mindbody) the number reflects the year of publication. STR hotel data uses booking-to-arrival no-show plus same-day cancel inside a 24-hour window.
Most industries are running slightly lower no-show rates in 2026 than in 2018, but the gap between top-quartile and bottom-quartile within each industry is widening. The aggregate trend masks a polarization. Healthcare primary care moved from 21 percent (MGMA 2018) to 19 percent (MGMA 2024), driven by text-first reminders becoming standard. Behavioral health saw a sharper drop because of the telehealth shift, from 38 percent in-person median in 2018 to 35 percent blended in 2024, with the telehealth sub-segment running 15 percent.
Restaurants moved in the opposite direction. OpenTable 2019 reported a 16 percent no-show rate; OpenTable 2023 reported 20 percent. The post-pandemic shift to abundant booking platforms made multi-restaurant booking easier and the social cost of no-showing lower. Salons and fitness held roughly flat. Hotel no-shows are slowly improving as deposit-based booking spreads. The polarization message holds across most categories: the median has moved a few points, the variance has widened.
Each row in the table above links to a primary source. We do not republish a vendor blog post that itself republishes a 2014 article that referenced a 2012 conference paper. Where we have to triangulate (because no single primary source publishes the exact number), we describe the method.
For healthcare segments, MGMA DataDive is the canonical source for US private practice data. JAMA Network Open publishes the largest peer-reviewed meta-analyses. HRSA UDS publishes FQHC-specific data. SAMHSA NSDUH covers behavioral health utilization at the national level.
For non-healthcare segments, OpenTable, Resy, Tock, Phorest, Mindbody, and Solv each publish their own industry reports using anonymized data from their platforms. Each report has known limitations (sample skews toward higher-end establishments using the platform, geographic concentration, etc.). The figures we cite are the median rates reported, not the upper bound. STR provides hotel industry no-show and cancellation data through paid subscription; we cite their annually published top-line summaries.
Register entries verified 2026-04-28