Risk Report
ADA Website Lawsuit Risk
by Industry
5,446 real scans across 5,079 domains. 95.9% failed WCAG 2.1 AA. Here is what the violation data says about lawsuit exposure by industry.
Sites Scanned
5,446
5,079 unique domains
Scored Zero
51.4%
2,800 of 5,446 sites
Annual ADA Lawsuits
4,000+
~10 filed per day in 2024
Failed WCAG 2.1 AA
95.9%
Only 110 scored perfect
Why This Matters
95.9% of websites fail WCAG 2.1 AA standards. With ADA digital accessibility lawsuits hitting record numbers (over 4,000 in 2024 alone), this data quantifies the risk by industry using real scan results from 5,446 websites. For business owners, the question is not whether your site has issues, but how severe they are and whether your industry is being targeted. E-commerce accounts for roughly 70% of lawsuits, but healthcare, real estate, and hospitality face disproportionately high violation rates.
Accessibility Score Distribution
51.4% of sites scored zero. Only 2% achieved a perfect score.
Industry Violation Averages (Top 10)
Average number of accessibility violations per scan, by industry. Real estate leads at 7.8.
Top 10 Most Common Violations
Ranked by occurrence across all 5,446 scans.
All page content should be contained by landmarks
region
Elements must meet minimum color contrast ratio thresholds
color-contrast
Links must have discernible text
link-name
Landmarks should have unique role/label combination
landmark-unique
Document should have one main landmark
landmark-one-main
All touch targets must be 24px large
target-size
Heading levels should only increase by one
heading-order
Page should contain a level-one heading
page-has-heading-one
Images must have alternative text
image-alt
Buttons must have discernible text
button-name
Impact levels: critical (lawsuit exposure) > serious > moderate > minor
Full Industry Risk Matrix
| Industry | Avg Score | Violations | Desktop | Mobile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Real Estate | 18.2 | 7.8 | 6.8 | 6.3 |
| Arts/Entertainment | 14 | 7.2 | 6 | 6 |
| Healthcare | 17.2 | 6.7 | 5.4 | 5.5 |
| Libraries | 40.7 | 6.4 | 3.4 | 5.1 |
| News/Media | 22.9 | 6.3 | 5.1 | 5.1 |
All 15 industries with avg score, violations, desktop vs. mobile breakdown
Mobile vs. Desktop Comparison
Side-by-side violation counts across all 15 industries
Impact Severity Breakdown
13,507
Moderate
43.1% of total
12,114
Serious
38.6% of total
4,043
Critical
12.9% of total
1,693
Minor
5.4% of total
81.7% of violations are serious or moderate. Full counts and percentages in the report.
Fix-by-Fix Recommendations
All page content should be contained by landmarks
Recommended fix: [in full report]
Elements must meet minimum color contrast ratio thresholds
Recommended fix: [in full report]
Links must have discernible text
Recommended fix: [in full report]
Landmarks should have unique role/label combination
Recommended fix: [in full report]
Document should have one main landmark
Recommended fix: [in full report]
Top 15 violations with specific code-level fixes, WCAG criteria references, and estimated remediation effort
ADA Title III lawsuits exceeded 4,000 in 2024
Website accessibility lawsuits are filed at a rate of roughly 10 per day. Healthcare, retail, and hospitality are among the most targeted industries. The standard used in federal court is WCAG 2.1 AA, which 95.9% of sites in this dataset failed.
The Bottom Line
Website accessibility is not optional anymore, and the data makes the case more clearly than any legal brief. 95.9% of sites fail WCAG standards. Over half scored zero. E-commerce carries the highest lawsuit risk because it combines high traffic with transactional functionality that must be accessible. But the risk extends across every industry.
The sites that pass tend to have one thing in common: they built accessibility in from the start rather than trying to retrofit it. For any business with a website, the question is not whether to fix accessibility issues. It is how soon.
Get the full ADA Lawsuit Risk Report
Full industry risk matrix, mobile vs. desktop breakdown, impact severity counts, and violation-by-violation remediation guide. Free.
Free. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Want to check your own site for ADA violations?
Scan your site free at onepageaudit.comSource: Real scan data from OnePageAudit (opa_scans table, palavir-co Supabase project). 5,446 scans across 5,079 unique domains. Violations detected using axe-core 4.x and Lighthouse. WCAG 2.1 AA standard. Report by Palavir LLC.
Lawsuit frequency data sourced from published ADA Title III litigation reports. This report is informational and does not constitute legal advice. Terms · Privacy · Refunds