After years on the rise, the rate of autism among U.S. children may be leveling off.

According to data released today by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 1 in 68 school-age children have the condition. The agency reported the same rate in 2014, hinting at a possible plateau in autism prevalence.

The new numbers come from the CDC’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, which tracks the number of children diagnosed with autism in 11 communities across the country. The agency launched the network in 2000, when it estimated a prevalence of 1 in 150. Since then, the rate has risen steadily, sparking fears of an ‘autism epidemic.’ Several studies have hinted that the rise in autism stems from increased awareness of the condition and diagnostic changes, however.

But it is too soon to tell whether the rate has stabilized, the CDC cautioned in a statement.

Prevalence estimates vary widely among the 11 communities, making it difficult to draw firm conclusions from the data. For instance, the surveillance site in New Jersey identified 800 children with autism, leading to a 1 in 41 prevalence estimate. The site in Maryland, by contrast, identified only 148 children with autism, yielding a prevalence of 1 in 123.

These discrepancies may also reflect the regions’ varying ability to identify autism cases in surveys, however, rather than a real difference in prevalence, experts say.

For example, the 2012 CDC survey showed a fourfold greater prevalence in Alabama versus Utah. “Nobody interprets these site differences as differences in incidence,” Eric Fombonne told Spectrum at the time. “It’s a difference in ascertainment.”

It is unclear how the new estimate stacks up against other measures of autism prevalence. Late last year, the CDC reported that 1 in 45 children have autism, based on an annual door-to-door survey.

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