United States Drug Overdose Death Rates And Totals Over Time

Around 1,106,900 US residents died from drug overdoses from 1968 to 2020, around 932,400 from 1999 through 2020 and around 91,800 in 2020. Of every 100,000 people in 2020 in the US, drugs killed 28. Opioids were involved in around 80,400 of the around 106,700 deaths in 2021. Synthetic opioids other than methadone (primarily fentanyl) were involved with 70,601 deaths in 2021.

Around 110,800 people died in 2022. Around 112,100 people died in the 12-month period ending August 31, 2023, at a rate of 307 deaths per day. That is 34 deaths per 100,000 US residents, using the population at the midpoint of that period.

 

The numbers at the source for the table below are continually updated. So the numbers in the table below may be slightly different. 2021 was a turning point in US history with over 100,000 deaths.

• Rates below are per 100,000.

 

Asterisks (*) indicate Health in STATE or Healthcare in STATE links in table below.

Drug overdose death rates per 100,000 population by state.

State	1999	2005	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Alabama *	3.9	6.3	15.2	15.7	16.2	18	16.6	16.3	22.3	30.1
Alaska *	7.5	11.4	16.8	16	16.8	20.2	14.6	17.8	22	35.6
Arizona	10.6	14.1	12.6	19	20.3	22.2	23.8	26.8	35.8	38.7
Arkansas *	4.4	10.1	18.2	13.8	14	15.5	15.7	13.5	19.1	22.3
California *	8.1	9	11.1	11.3	11.2	11.7	12.8	15	21.8	26.6
Colorado *	8	12.7	16.3	15.4	16.6	17.6	16.8	18	24.9	31.4
Connecticut	9	8.5	17.6	22.1	27.4	30.9	30.7	34.7	39.1	42.3
Delaware	6.4	7.5	20.9	22	30.8	37	43.8	48	47.3	54
Florida *	6.4	13.5	13.2	16.2	23.7	25.1	22.8	25.5	35	37.5
Georgia *	3.5	8.2	11.9	12.7	13.3	14.7	13.2	13.1	18	23.5
Hawaii *	6.5	9.4	10.9	11.3	12.8	13.8	14.3	15.9	18.3	17.3
Idaho *	5.3	8.1	13.7	14.2	15.2	14.4	14.6	15.1	15.9	19
Illinois	6.7	8.4	13.1	14.1	18.9	21.6	21.3	21.9	28.1	29
Indiana	3.2	9.8	18.2	19.5	24	29.4	25.6	26.6	36.7	43
Iowa	1.9	4.8	8.8	10.3	10.6	11.5	9.6	11.5	14.3	15.3
Kansas	3.4	9.1	11.7	11.8	11.1	11.8	12.4	14.3	17.4	24.3
Kentucky	4.9	15.3	24.7	29.9	33.5	37.2	30.9	32.5	49.2	55.6
Louisiana	4.3	14.7	16.9	19	21.8	24.5	25.4	28.3	42.7	55.9
Maine	5.3	12.4	16.8	21.2	28.7	34.4	27.9	29.9	39.7	47.1
Maryland *	11.4	11.4	17.4	20.9	33.2	36.3	37.2	38.2	44.6	42.8
Massachusetts *	7.5	12	19	25.7	33	31.8	32.8	32.1	33.9	36.8
Michigan	4.6	9.8	18	20.4	24.4	27.8	26.6	24.4	28.6	31.5
Minnesota *	2.8	5.4	9.6	10.6	12.5	13.3	11.5	14.2	19	24.5
Mississippi *	3.2	8.8	11.6	12.3	12.1	12.2	10.8	13.6	21.1	28.4
Missouri	5	10.7	18.2	17.9	23.6	23.4	27.5	26.9	32.1	36.5
Montana *	4.6	10.1	12.4	13.8	11.7	11.7	12.2	14.1	15.6	19.5
Nebraska	2.3	5	7.2	6.9	6.4	8.1	7.4	8.7	11.3	11.4
Nevada	11.5	18.7	18.4	20.4	21.7	21.6	21.2	20.1	26	29.2
New Hampshire	4.3	10.7	26.2	34.3	39	37	35.8	32	30.3	32.3
New Jersey	6.5	9.4	14	16.3	23.2	30	33.1	31.7	32.1	32.4
New Mexico	15	20.1	27.3	25.3	25.2	24.8	26.7	30.2	39	51.6
New York *	5	4.8	11.3	13.6	18	19.4	18.4	18.2	25.4	28.7
North Carolina *	4.6	11.4	13.8	15.8	19.7	24.1	22.4	22.3	30.9	39.2
North Dakota *	0	0	6.3	8.6	10.6	9.2	10.2	11.4	15.6	17.2
Ohio *	4.2	10.9	24.6	29.9	39.1	46.3	35.9	38.3	47.2	48.1
Oklahoma *	5.4	13.8	20.3	19	21.5	20.1	18.4	16.7	19.4	24.4
Oregon *	6.1	10.4	12.8	12	11.9	12.4	12.6	14	18.7	26.8
Pennsylvania	8.1	13.2	21.9	26.3	37.9	44.3	36.1	35.6	42.4	43.2
Rhode Island	5.5	14.3	23.4	28.2	30.8	31	30.1	29.5	38.2	41.7
South Carolina *	3.7	9.9	14.4	15.7	18.1	20.5	22.6	22.7	34.9	42.8
South Dakota	0	5.5	7.8	8.4	8.4	8.5	6.9	10.5	10.3	12.6
Tennessee	6.1	14.5	19.5	22.2	24.5	26.6	27.5	31.2	45.6	56.6
Texas *	5.4	8.5	9.7	9.4	10.1	10.5	10.4	10.8	14.1	16.8
Utah *	10.6	19.3	22.4	23.4	22.4	22.3	21.2	18.9	20.5	21.1
Vermont *	4.7	8.5	13.9	16.7	22.2	23.2	26.6	23.8	32.9	42.3
Virginia *	5	7.5	11.7	12.4	16.7	17.9	17.1	18.3	26.6	30.5
Washington *	9.3	13	13.3	14.7	14.5	15.2	14.8	15.8	22	28.1
West Virginia *	4.1	10.5	35.5	41.5	52	57.8	51.5	52.8	81.4	90.9
Wisconsin	4	9.3	15.1	15.5	19.3	21.2	19.2	21.1	27.7	31.6
Wyoming	4.1	4.9	19.4	16.4	17.6	12.2	11.1	14.1	17.4	18.9

Overall US totals by year, followed by breakdown by state by year.

State links below are "Category:Health in STATE" links. See overall category.

Drug overdose deaths by state over time

State	1999	2005	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Alabama	169	283	723	736	756	835	775	768	1,029	1,408
Alaska	46	79	124	122	128	147	110	132	160	260
Arizona	511	794	356	1,274	1,382	1,532	1,670	1,907	2,550	2,730
Arkansas	113	269	1,211	392	401	446	444	388	546	637
California	2,662	3,214	4,521	4,659	4,654	4,868	5,348	6,198	8,908	10,901
Colorado	349	608	899	869	942	1,015	995	1,079	1,492	1,887
Connecticut	310	295	623	800	971	1,072	1,069	1,214	1,371	1,552
Delaware	50	62	189	198	282	338	401	435	444	513
Florida	997	2,371	2,634	3,228	4,728	5,088	4,698	5,268	7,231	7,827
Georgia	283	738	1,206	1,302	1,394	1,537	1,404	1,408	1,916	2,500
Hawaii	80	126	157	169	191	203	213	242	274	269
Idaho	64	109	212	218	243	236	250	265	287	354
Illinois	825	1,067	1,705	1,835	2,411	2,778	2,722	2,790	3,549	3,762
Indiana	191	610	1,172	1,245	1,526	1,852	1,629	1,699	2,321	2,811
Iowa	53	141	264	309	314	341	287	352	432	475
Kansas	89	241	332	329	313	333	345	403	490	680
Kentucky	197	638	1,077	1,273	1,419	1,566	1,315	1,380	2,083	2,381
Louisiana	188	661	777	861	996	1,108	1,140	1,267	1,896	2,463
Maine	67	163	216	269	353	424	345	371	496	611
Maryland	629	656	1,070	1,285	2,044	2,247	2,324	2,369	2,771	2,737
Massachusetts	488	780	1,289	1,724	2,227	2,168	2,241	2,210	2,302	2,585
Michigan	460	985	1,762	1,980	2,347	2,694	2,591	2,385	2,759	3,089
Minnesota	136	282	517	581	672	733	636	792	1,050	1,356
Mississippi	87	248	336	351	352	354	310	394	586	787
Missouri	276	608	1,067	1,066	1,371	1,367	1,610	1,583	1,875	2,155
Montana	41	96	125	138	119	119	125	143	162	199
Nebraska	39	86	125	126	120	152	138	161	214	214
Nevada	227	457	545	619	665	676	688	647	832	949
New Hampshire	54	142	334	422	481	467	452	407	393	441
New Jersey	557	823	1,253	1,454	2,056	2,685	2,900	2,805	2,840	3,056
New Mexico	266	373	547	501	500	493	537	599	784	1,052
New York	959	944	2,300	2,754	3,638	3,921	3,697	3,617	4,965	5,842
North Carolina	366	1,000	1,358	1,567	1,956	2,414	2,259	2,266	3,146	3,981
North Dakota	12	12	43	61	77	68	70	82	114	124
Ohio	467	1,243	2,744	3,310	4,329	5,111	3,980	4,251	5,204	5,397
Oklahoma	178	478	777	725	813	775	716	645	762	960
Oregon	210	386	522	505	506	530	547	615	803	1,171
Pennsylvania	990	1,613	2,732	3,264	4,627	5,388	4,415	4,377	5,168	5,449
Rhode Island	58	156	247	310	326	320	317	307	397	455
South Carolina	147	427	701	761	879	1,008	1,125	1,127	1,739	2,138
South Dakota	17	40	63	65	69	73	57	86	83	105
Tennessee	344	872	1,269	1,457	1,630	1,776	1,823	2,089	3,034	3,813
Texas	1,087	1,910	2,601	2,588	2,831	2,989	3,005	3,136	4,172	4,984
Utah	205	438	603	646	635	650	624	571	622	662
Vermont	29	53	83	99	125	134	153	133	190	252
Virginia	366	581	980	1,039	1,405	1,507	1,448	1,547	2,240	2,626
Washington	555	850	979	1,094	1,102	1,169	1,164	1,259	1,733	2,264
West Virginia	75	184	627	725	884	974	856	870	1,330	1,501
Wisconsin	212	518	853	878	1,074	1,177	1,079	1,201	1,531	1,775
Wyoming	20	26	109	96	99	69	66	79	99	109

Concerning the data in the charts below (in this section and the following sections) deaths from the various drugs add up to more than the yearly overdose death total because multiple drugs are involved in many of the deaths.

 

 

Opioids were involved in around 80,400 of the around 106,700 deaths in 2021. See map higher up for states with the highest overdose death rates.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were around 68,700 drug overdose deaths in the United States in 2018. That is a rate of 210 deaths per million residents. Compare that rate to the 2018 rates of the European countries in the first chart below.

 

• Row numbers below are static. Other columns are sortable. This allows ranking of any column.
• Location links below are "Healthcare in LOCATION" links.

Drug overdose deaths per year.

Location	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017
Austria	235	191	196	184	154
Belgium			168	152	148
Bulgaria	20	24	11	24	18
Croatia	77	99	97	85	65
Cyprus	10	6	5	12	16
Czech Republic	64	58	42	39	42
Denmark		197	202	183	239
Estonia	39	33	27	39	110
Finland	287	258	234	261	200
France					417
Germany	1,826	1,581	1,398	1,276	1,272
Greece			230	274	255
Hungary	42	48	43	33	33
Ireland					235
Italy	293	309	374	336	297
Latvia	17	21	12	20	22
Lithuania	62	47	52	59	83
Luxembourg	5	6	8	4	8
Malta	5			3	5
Netherlands	298	295	252	224	262
Norway	241	324	275	286	247
Poland		229	212	199	202
Portugal		63	72	55	51
Romania	30	33	45	26	32
Slovakia	28	37	34	32	19
Slovenia	65	70	74	59	47
Spain		774	546	450	437
Sweden	450	524	555	583	643
Turkey		314	342	657	941
United Kingdom					3,284

• List of deaths from drug overdose and intoxication
• Adulterants
• Alcohol intoxication
• Diseases of despair
• Drug interactions
• Responsible drug use
• Suicide methods § Drug overdose