The Friday File: 21% of Americans have at least one tattoo, up from 15% during the middle of the last decade. 26% of persons in the West have one, compared to 21% in the East and Midwest, and just 18% in the South. 23% of women and 19% of men have a tattoo; however, among men 23% have a visible tattoo while that number is just 13% for women.