What people order when they order their own blood tests
TestWell Research · Twelve months of orders, September 2025 – September 2026 · Published September 2026
Key findings
Across a year of self-pay orders in 44 states, the single most-ordered test was the Comprehensive Metabolic Panel (11.4% of itemized orders), followed by the Tuberculosis (TB) Blood Test and IGF-1 (Insulin-like Growth Factor). Hormone tests were the largest category (16% of lines), 33.2% of orders included a bundled panel, 49.3% of orders came from people under 40, and 17.9% were placed on a weekend.
- Window
- 12 months
- States
- 44
- Markers per order
- 5.5
- Repeat customers
- 9.6%
Which blood tests do people order most on their own?
The list is dominated by the tests a primary-care visit would order anyway — a metabolic panel, blood count, A1c, lipids, thyroid — plus two outliers that say something about why people bypass the doctor's office: the TB blood test (paperwork for school, work and immigration) and IGF-1 (monitoring for people using growth-hormone-related peptides). 4 of the top 15 items are bundled panels.
| Test or panel | Type | Share of itemized orders |
|---|---|---|
| 1.Comprehensive Metabolic Panel | Single test | 11.4% |
| 2.Tuberculosis (TB) Blood Test | Single test | 8.9% |
| 3.IGF-1 (Insulin-like Growth Factor) | Single test | 7.7% |
| 4.TSH + Free T4 | Single test | 6.8% |
| 5.CBC with Differential | Single test | 6.5% |
| 6.Hemoglobin A1c | Single test | 6.1% |
| 7.Lipid Panel | Single test | 5.2% |
| 8.Vitamin D, 25-Hydroxy | Single test | 3.8% |
| 9.Insulin, Fasting | Single test | 3.8% |
| 10.General Wellness Advanced Panel | Panel | 3.7% |
| 11.Basic Metabolic Panel | Single test | 3.5% |
| 12.Essential Health Panel | Panel | 3.5% |
| 13.Women's Health Panel | Panel | 3.1% |
| 14.Men's Health Panel | Panel | 3.1% |
| 15.Iron Panel (Iron, TIBC & Ferritin) | Single test | 3.1% |
What are people trying to find out?
Grouping every billable line by catalog category, hormones lead — testosterone, estradiol, IGF-1, cortisol, fertility hormones — ahead of thyroid, heart health and metabolic panels. Screening for infection and immunity (TB, titers) is a meaningful fifth block, almost entirely driven by paperwork requirements.
| Category | Share of lines |
|---|---|
| Hormones | 16% |
| Thyroid | 10% |
| Heart Health | 9.4% |
| Metabolic Health | 8.8% |
| General Health | 7.8% |
| Vitamins & Nutrients | 7.2% |
| Blood Health | 6.2% |
| Diabetes & Blood Sugar | 5.8% |
| Immunity & Vaccination | 5.4% |
| Kidney & Urinary | 4.4% |
| Iron & Anemia | 3.9% |
| Fertility | 3% |
| Liver Health | 2.4% |
| STI & Infectious Disease | 2.1% |
| Inflammation & Autoimmune | 1.9% |
| Specialty | 1.6% |
| Environmental & Toxins | 1.3% |
| Cancer Screening | 1.2% |
Do people buy single tests or panels?
Most orders are focused: 65.1% contain exactly one billable item. But 33.2% of itemized orders include at least one bundled panel, and the average order still covers 5.5 markers once panel components are counted — people either want one specific answer, or a broad baseline, with little in between.
| Billable items in order | Share of orders |
|---|---|
| 1 | 65.1% |
| 2 | 15% |
| 3 | 8.4% |
| 4 | 3.9% |
| 5 | 2.9% |
| 6+ | 4.7% |
| Line type | Share of lines |
|---|---|
| Single test | 81.1% |
| Bundled panel | 18.9% |
Who is ordering their own labs?
Self-ordering skews younger than the population that uses the most healthcare: 49.3% of orders came from people under 40, and the 30–39 band alone accounts for 29.7%. Orders were 52.7% female and 47.3% male. 9.6% of customers ordered more than once within the twelve months.
| Age band | Share of orders |
|---|---|
| 18–29 | 19.6% |
| 30–39 | 29.7% |
| 40–49 | 22.2% |
| 50–59 | 12.3% |
| 60–69 | 9.9% |
| 70+ | 6.4% |
| Sex on profile | Share of orders |
|---|---|
| Female | 52.7% |
| Male | 47.3% |
When do people order?
Ordering is a weekday, working-hours behaviour: Wednesday is the peak (18.1% of orders) and the weekend accounts for 17.9% combined — consistent with people ordering the night before or the morning of a walk-in draw rather than browsing at leisure. Day of week is in UTC; US evening orders roll into the next day.
| Day | Share of orders |
|---|---|
| Sunday | 8.3% |
| Monday | 16.4% |
| Tuesday | 17.7% |
| Wednesday | 18.1% |
| Thursday | 15.5% |
| Friday | 14.3% |
| Saturday | 9.6% |
Where are self-ordered labs most common?
Three states — Florida, California, Texas — account for 43.2% of orders. Florida's lead tracks its large self-employed and retiree populations; Texas has the highest uninsured rate in the country. New York and New Jersey orders route to BioReference under state licensing rules, which is why BioReference appears in the lab mix below. States below a minimum order threshold are grouped to protect privacy.
| State | Share of orders |
|---|---|
| Florida | 18.1% |
| California | 13.4% |
| Texas | 11.7% |
| New York | 6.4% |
| Illinois | 4.9% |
| Georgia | 3.8% |
| Arizona | 2.6% |
| Virginia | 2.5% |
| Pennsylvania | 2.5% |
| Colorado | 2.5% |
| Washington | 2.3% |
| New Jersey | 2.3% |
| Other states (below 20 orders each) | 27% |
| Performing lab | Share of lines |
|---|---|
| Quest | 64.6% |
| Labcorp | 24.8% |
| BioReference | 10.7% |
| Collection | Share of orders |
|---|---|
| Walk-in at a lab | 99.8% |
| At-home phlebotomist | 0.2% |
How was this measured?
Sample. All TestWell orders with a paid status (paid, processing, lab ordered, results ready, completed) created between 2025-09-05 and 2026-09-05 — several hundred orders across 44 states. Cancelled, failed and unpaid carts are excluded. We report shares rather than raw counts; the exact sample size is available to journalists and researchers on request.
Items.“Most-ordered” counts billable order lines — a bundled panel counts once, not once per component test. Orders with no retail-priced lines (partner-billed or fully discounted; 14% of the sample) are excluded from item-mix denominators. Category and test-vs-panel classification come from the live TestWell catalog by item id.
People.Age bands use the date of birth on the ordering profile at the end of the window; sex is the profile field the customer entered. State is the profile's address state. Repeat rate is the share of unique customers with two or more paid orders inside the window.
Privacy. Every figure is an aggregate share; no order- or person-level data leaves the database. States below a minimum order threshold are pooled. Day-of-week is computed in UTC.
Limitations.One marketplace, one year, self-selected customers; shares describe TestWell's order book, not US prevalence. Prices and marketing shape what people buy here, so category shares should be read as demand under self-pay pricing, not clinical need.
Data. Download the aggregate dataset (JSON) — CC BY 4.0, attribute to TestWell with a link to this page.
Frequently asked questions
Where does this data come from?
From TestWell's own order records: every paid, physician-authorized order placed September 2025 – September 2026 — several hundred orders across 44 states. We publish shares rather than raw counts, and no individual order, result or person is identifiable.
Does this reflect all Americans who order their own labs?
No. It reflects one direct-to-consumer marketplace's customers over twelve months, which skews toward states where TestWell has marketed and toward tests TestWell prices competitively. Treat it as a large, real sample of self-pay ordering behaviour, not a national census.
Why is a tuberculosis blood test the second most-ordered item?
Because it is required paperwork for a lot of people — school and university enrolment, healthcare and childcare jobs, and immigration medical exams all ask for TB screening — and a QuantiFERON blood test needs one visit instead of the skin test's two. Demand is administrative more than clinical.
Can I reuse these figures?
Yes, with attribution and a link to this page (CC BY 4.0). The underlying aggregate table is downloadable as JSON below. Please don't present shares as national prevalence figures.