Consumer Reports was founded in 1936 when consumers lacked a reliable source of information they could depend on to help them distinguish good products from bad ones. Since then Consumer Reports has filled that vacuum with a broad range of consumer information. Consumer Reports has a wide circulation in print and on its website, ConsumerReports.org, which has the most subscribers of any website of its kind. All of Consumer Reports' work is informed by the more than 1 million readers who respond to our Annual Questionnaire, among the largest and most comprehensive consumer studies in the world.

In 2008, Consumer Reports also launched several initiatives, including the Consumer Reports Health Ratings Center, which serve to educate and empower consumers to make more informed Health and Fitness decisions and to help change the market.