OBJECTIVES: While the disease burden of gout in the US has been considered substantial and may have been rising over the past decade, no contemporary national data are available. We estimated the prevalence of gout based on a recent, nationally representative sample of US men and women (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey [NHANES] 2007-8). METHODS: Using data from 5707 participants in NHANES 2007-8 (2797 men and 2910 women) aged ≥20 years, we estimated overall, gender-specific, and age-specific prevalence of gout. During the home interview of NHANES, all participants were asked: “Has a doctor or other health professional ever told you that you had gout?” We estimated the number of individuals with gout by applying our prevalence estimates to the corresponding 2008 US population estimate of 214.8 million adults over age 18.  RESULTS: Overall prevalence of gout among US adults was 3.9%, which corresponded to an estimated 8.3 million individuals with gout. Prevalence of gout was 5.9% (6.1 million) among men and 2.0% (2.2 million) among women. Prevalence of gout increased with age, with the lowest (0.4%, 0.2 million) in those aged 20-29 years and the highest (12.6%, 1.2 million) in those aged ≥80 years. Prevalence of gout among those aged <64 years was 2.7% and was higher (9.8%) among those aged ≥65 years. Those ≥65 years corresponded to an estimated 3.5 million adults with gout.  CONCLUSIONS: These findings from the latest nationally representative sample of US adults in NHANES 2007-2008 suggest that the prevalence of gout is substantial, particularly among older (aged ≥65 years) individuals. Additional confirmation studies are needed.