diff --git a/doc/users/whats_new/CheckButtons_widget_get_status.rst b/doc/users/whats_new/CheckButtons_widget_get_status.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..84a2baa68a02
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/users/whats_new/CheckButtons_widget_get_status.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+CheckButtons widget get_status function
+---------------------------------------
+
+A :func:`get_status` function has been added the the :class:`matplotlib.widgets.CheckButtons` class. This :func:`get_status` function allows user to query the status (True/False) of all of the buttons in the CheckButtons object. 
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_widgets.py b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_widgets.py
index c954355eb1e4..2555037828f1 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_widgets.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_widgets.py
@@ -257,3 +257,17 @@ def test_lasso_selector():
     check_lasso_selector()
     check_lasso_selector(useblit=False, lineprops=dict(color='red'))
     check_lasso_selector(useblit=True, button=1)
+
+
+@cleanup
+def test_CheckButtons():
+    ax = get_ax()
+    check = widgets.CheckButtons(ax, ('a', 'b', 'c'), (True, False, True))
+    assert check.get_status() == [True, False, True]
+    check.set_active(0)
+    assert check.get_status() == [False, False, True]
+
+    def clicked_function():
+        pass
+    cid = check.on_clicked(clicked_function)
+    check.disconnect(cid)
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/widgets.py b/lib/matplotlib/widgets.py
index ad008c4f0d70..112494b59359 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/widgets.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/widgets.py
@@ -474,7 +474,7 @@ def reset(self):
 
 class CheckButtons(AxesWidget):
     """
-    A GUI neutral radio button.
+    A GUI neutral set of check buttons.
 
     For the check buttons to remain responsive you must keep a
     reference to this object.
@@ -603,6 +603,12 @@ def set_active(self, index):
         for cid, func in six.iteritems(self.observers):
             func(self.labels[index].get_text())
 
+    def get_status(self):
+        """
+        returns a tuple of the status (True/False) of all of the check buttons
+        """
+        return [l1.get_visible() for (l1, l2) in self.lines]
+
     def on_clicked(self, func):
         """
         When the button is clicked, call *func* with button label