First, the easy way: PERRLA
Paste the CDC page's URL into PERRLA's reference search. PERRLA knows cdc.gov: it fills in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as the group author, the page's date, and the title. Because the group author and the website name match, PERRLA starts the MLA entry with the title and builds every in-text citation from it. Pages from the National Center for Health Statistics come back with the center as the author and the CDC as the website. Paste an MMWR report's URL and PERRLA builds it as a journal article, because that's what MMWR is.
Give the title a quick check against the page's headline before you save, especially on FastStats pages. Adding one by hand? Choose Webpage, add a Group Author (Organization) (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), and fill in the Page Title, the Website Name (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), the Publication Date, and the URL (Web address). Add a Retrieval Date for a data page, and PERRLA writes it as the access date.
https://www.cdc.gov/high-blood-pressure/data-research/facts-stats/index.html
"High Blood Pressure Facts." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2 June 2026, www.cdc.gov/high-blood-pressure/data-research/facts-stats/index.html.
Not using PERRLA yet? Here is how to build the same works cited entry by hand.
The parts of the works cited entry
1. Start with the title, not the CDC
MLA has a rule for organizations: when the group that wrote a work also publishes it, skip the author and begin with the title. The CDC writes its pages and runs cdc.gov, so a CDC page starts with its title. The CDC's name still appears once, as the website.
The title goes in quotation marks and title case, with a period inside the closing quotation mark. Use the headline at the top of the page.
"High Blood Pressure Facts."
2. When a CDC center is the author
Some pages sit in a center's own section of the site, like the National Center for Health Statistics pages under cdc.gov/nchs, and credit that center as the source. The center wrote the page and the CDC runs the site, so the center is the author and the entry starts with its name.
National Center for Health Statistics.
Most regular CDC topic pages also name a center under "Content Source" at the bottom. The MLA Style Center's own example of a CDC page like that starts with the title and leaves the center out, so do the same.
3. Website name
The website is the container, so its full name goes in italics, followed by a comma. Write the name out; don't use CDC here.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
4. Date
Scroll to the "About this page" box at the bottom. CDC pages list up to three dates there: Published, Updated, and Reviewed. MLA tells you to use the date that matters most for your use, and the MLA Style Center says that's the last-updated date, or the last-reviewed date when that's what the page gives. Write it as day, month, and year.
2 June 2026,
Many National Center for Health Statistics pages show only a "Last Reviewed" date. In MLA, use it, as the FastStats example below does. (APA is different: it ignores review dates.)
5. URL
Give the URL of the exact page, without https://, and end with a period. Never cite the CDC home page for information that's on a specific page.
www.cdc.gov/high-blood-pressure/data-research/facts-stats/index.html.
CDC pages move. If a link you saved no longer works, search the page title on cdc.gov for its current address, and cite the version you can link to.
6. Access date (data pages)
MLA makes the access date optional, and it's worth adding for a statistics page that's overwritten when new numbers come out, like a FastStats page or a data dashboard. Your reader may see different numbers than you did. Write Accessed and the date at the very end.
Accessed 21 Oct. 2026.
Examples
A regular CDC page
The CDC's "High Blood Pressure Facts" page, updated 2 June 2026. The CDC wrote it and runs the site, so the entry starts with the title and the CDC appears once, as the website.
Works Cited
"High Blood Pressure Facts." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2 June 2026, www.cdc.gov/high-blood-pressure/data-research/facts-stats/index.html.
- In-text citation("High Blood Pressure Facts")
- Narrative citationThe CDC's page "High Blood Pressure Facts" reports that ….
A National Center for Health Statistics data page
The FastStats page on nursing home care, from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), a center within the CDC. NCHS is the author and the CDC is the website. The page's only date is "Last Reviewed: February 6, 2026," which MLA uses, and because its numbers are replaced when new data come out, it ends with an access date.
Works Cited
National Center for Health Statistics. "Nursing Home Care." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 6 Feb. 2026, www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/nursing-home-care.htm. Accessed 21 Oct. 2026.
- In-text citation(National Center)
- Narrative citationAs the National Center for Health Statistics reports, ….
In-text citations
The in-text citation uses the first thing in the Works Cited entry, so for a regular CDC page it's the title, in quotation marks.
- A CDC page: ("High Blood Pressure Facts")
- A long title: shorten it to its first noun phrase, starting with the word the entry is alphabetized by
- A CDC center as author: the center's name, shortened in parentheses to its first noun phrase: (National Center). Name it in full in your sentence.
- In your sentence: name the CDC and the page title, and no parentheses are needed: The CDC's page "High Blood Pressure Facts" reports that …
CDC pages have no page numbers, so there's no number to add. You can write CDC in your own sentences once you've spelled the name out, but the Works Cited entry always uses the full name.
Common mistakes
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "High Blood Pressure Facts." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,"High Blood Pressure Facts." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,When the CDC wrote the page and runs the site, MLA starts with the title so the CDC isn't listed twice.
- (CDC)("High Blood Pressure Facts")Your reader looks up the in-text citation by the first word of the entry, and this entry starts with the title.
- CDC, 2 June 2026,Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2 June 2026,Spell out the website's name in the Works Cited entry.
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. "High Blood Pressure Facts.""High Blood Pressure Facts." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,The CDC is responsible for the page, not its parent department, and the CDC runs the site.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2026, June 2). High blood pressure facts."High Blood Pressure Facts." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2 June 2026,That's APA. MLA starts with the title in quotation marks and title case, italicizes the website, and writes the date day, month, year.
- An MMWR report cited as a CDC webpageAn MMWR report cited as a journal articleMorbidity and Mortality Weekly Report is a journal with volumes, issues, and page numbers, so it takes the journal article format, with its individual authors.
Quick checklist
- The page title first, in quotation marks and title case
- A CDC center as the author only when the page sits in that center's own section
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in italics as the website, spelled out
- The Updated date, or the Reviewed date when it's the only one, as day, month, year
- URL of the exact page, without https://, ending with a period
- An access date for data pages that change
- In text: the title in quotation marks, ("High Blood Pressure Facts")
Questions students ask
Is the CDC the author in MLA?
The CDC wrote the page, but because it also publishes the site, MLA leaves it out of the author spot and starts with the title. The CDC's name goes in italics as the website, so it still appears in the entry once.
Which date do I use on a CDC page in MLA?
The Updated date, which the CDC shows near the top of the page and in the "About this page" box at the bottom. If the page gives only a Reviewed date, MLA lets you use it. Write the date as day, month, and year: 2 June 2026.
Can I write (CDC) as my in-text citation?
Not for a regular CDC page. The entry starts with the title, so the citation does too: ("High Blood Pressure Facts"). You can still name the CDC in your sentence, as long as the title is there for your reader to find.
Do I need an access date for a CDC page?
It's optional, and most useful on pages built to change, like FastStats pages, data dashboards, and surveillance updates. A regular topic page with an Updated date doesn't need one.
How do I cite an MMWR report in MLA?
As a journal article. MMWR has individual authors, a volume, an issue, and page numbers, and most reports have a DOI. The journal article guide shows the format.
How do I alphabetize a CDC entry that starts with a title?
By the first word of the title, skipping A, An, and The. "High Blood Pressure Facts" goes under H, among your other entries.
Related guides
Rules checked against the MLA Handbook (9th ed.), chapter 5 (organization authors, the website as container, dates, and optional access dates, 5.111) and chapter 6 (in-text citations, 6.3–6.30, and shortened titles, 6.10), and the MLA Style Center pages "How do I cite a source that has no author?" (organization as author and publisher), "If the author of a work is given as a division of an organization, do I still omit an author?," "When citing a work on a website, should I use the original publication date or the last-updated date?," "How to Cite an Online Work," and the CDC page in its works-cited example on styling COVID-19. Example sources verified on each CDC page itself, including the dates in each page's "About this page" box.