Which states have the highest drug overdose death rates?

In the 12 months through June 2025, Alaska had the highest drug overdose death rate, 43.6 deaths per 100,000 people, followed by New Mexico (41.9) and West Virginia (41.5). Nebraska had the lowest, 8.3, and the US rate was 20.8. Rates are age-adjusted, so states with older or younger populations compare fairly, and they are provisional.

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Key facts

Measure: Drug overdose deaths per 100,000 people in a year, age-adjusted. Written from the data below.

  • Alaska has the highest figure, 43.6, followed by New Mexico (41.9) and West Virginia (41.5).
  • Nebraska has the lowest figure, 8.3, followed by South Dakota (10.6) and Iowa (12.8).
  • The highest is 5.3 times the lowest.
  • United States: 20.8. Of the 51 compared, 24 are above it, 26 below, and 1 the same.

This chart is one of the 50 in The U.S. in 50 charts, 2026, a yearly report of the key numbers on how the country is doing.

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Source and date

Source
CDC National Center for Health Statistics, Quarterly provisional estimates of mortality
License
Public domain (U.S. government work)
Data as of
Published

Citation

Chartly. “Which states have the highest drug overdose death rates?” Chart. Data: CDC National Center for Health Statistics, Quarterly provisional estimates of mortality, https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/mortality-dashboard.htm (data as of June 30, 2025). https://chart.ly/charts/drug-overdose-death-rate-by-state (accessed November 4, 2026).

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The data

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The file has the numbers in this table, with the source, license and date. Please credit the source and Chartly. Developers can also get them as JSON (how).

State Drug overdose deaths per 100,000 people in a year, age-adjusted
Alaska 43.6
New Mexico 41.9
West Virginia 41.5
District of Columbia 41.1
Arizona 37.3
Washington 37.3
Delaware 32.9
Nevada 32.4
Tennessee 31.9
Oregon 29.9
Maine 29.8
Kentucky 29.4
Louisiana 28.6
Vermont 27.5
Colorado 25.8
South Carolina 25.2
Oklahoma 23.9
Pennsylvania 23.8
Indiana 23.4
Connecticut 23.3
Ohio 23.1
Maryland 22.4
Rhode Island 21.7
North Carolina 21.3
Alabama 20.8
United States 20.8
California 20.6
Missouri 20.3
Hawaii 20.1
Utah 19.4
Kansas 19.1
New Hampshire 18.7
Massachusetts 18.6
Mississippi 17.9
New York 17.8
Minnesota 17.7
New Jersey 17.6
Florida 17.3
Illinois 16.9
Michigan 16.6
Wisconsin 16.4
Georgia 16.3
Montana 16.3
Idaho 16
Wyoming 15.8
North Dakota 15.1
Virginia 15
Texas 14.1
Arkansas 13.1
Iowa 12.8
South Dakota 10.6
Nebraska 8.3

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