This US, multicenter, observational study assessed the CKD prevalence in adult patients with type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and characterized the proportion of detected and undiagnosed CKD in the primary care setting using the following: a clinician survey; a patient physical exam and medical history; a single blood draw for estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and glycosolated hemoglobin (HbA1c); urine dipstick for protein; urine albumin-creatinine ratio (ACR); two patient quality of life questionnaires; and a 15-month medical record review. The study consisted of 9339 adults with T2DM and 466 investigator sites. Of the 9339 enrolled, 9307 had complete data collection for analysis. The 15-month retrospective review showed urine protein, urine ACR, and eGFR testing were not performed in 51.4%, 52.9% and 15.2% of individuals, respectively. Of the 9307 patients, 5036 (54.1%) had Stage 1–5 CKD based on eGFR and albuminuria; however, only 607 (12.1%) of those patients were identified as having CKD by their clinicians. Clinicians were more successful in diagnosing patients with Stage 3–5 CKD than Stages 1 and 2. There were no differences in clinicians’ likelihood of identification of CKD based on practice setting, number of years in practice, or self-reported patients seen per week. Awareness or patient self-reported CKD was 81.1% with practitioner detection versus 2.6% in the absence of diagnosis. Primary care of T2DM demonstrates recommended urine CKD testing is underutilized, and CKD is significantly under-diagnosed. This is the first study to show CKD detection is associated with awareness.