Here Is Where Your State Ranks For Deadly Drug Overdoses

As most Americans know, the United States is experiencing a opioid epidemic. Last year, over 70,000 Americans died due to drug overdoses—more than all those who died in the Afghanistan, Iraq and Vietnam wars combined.

“The growing drugs crisis sweeping across the US is deadlier than gun violence, car crashes or AIDS,” the Guardian reports, “none of which have killed as many Americans in a single year as overdoses did in 2017.”

This is one of the main reasons that Americans’ life expectancies has declined, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The drug epidemic is impacting the 50 different states differently–with some being impacted much more than others.

For example, according to CDC data, West Virginia which has the most drug overdose deaths (per 100,000 residents) in the U.S. has more than eight times the amount of deaths than Nebraska, which has the least.

However, in terms of sheer numbers of deaths from drug overdoses, Florida tops the list (at 4,728), with California not far behind (at 4,654).

Here are the top 10 states with highest number of deaths due to drug overdoses.

Here is the ranking by state:

1. West Virginia — 52.0 deaths per 100,000 residents
2. Ohio — 39.1 deaths per 100,000 residents
3. New Hampshire — 39.0 deaths per 100,000 residents
4. Pennsylvania — 37.9 deaths per 100,000 residents
5. Kentucky — 33.5 deaths per 100,000 residents
6. Maryland — 33.2 deaths per 100,000 residents
7. Massachusetts — 33.0 deaths per 100,000 residents
8. Rhode Island (tie) — 30.8 deaths per 100,000 residents
9. Delaware (tie) — 30.8 deaths per 100,000 residents
10. Maine — 28.7 deaths per 100,000 residents
11. Connecticut — 27.4 deaths per 100,000 residents
12. New Mexico — 25.2 deaths per 100,000 residents
13. Tennessee — 24.5 deaths per 100,000 residents
14. Michigan — 24.4 deaths per 100,000 residents
15. Indiana — 24.0 deaths per 100,000 residents
16. Florida — 23.7 deaths per 100,000 residents
17. Missouri — 23.6 deaths per 100,000 residents
18. New Jersey — 23.2 deaths per 100,000 residents
19. Utah — 22.4 deaths per 100,000 residents
20. Vermont — 22.2 deaths per 100,000 residents
21. Lousiana — 21.8 deaths per 100,000 residents
22. Nevada — 21.7 deaths per 100,000 residents
23. Oklahoma — 21.5 deaths per 100,000 residents
24. Arizona — 20.3 deaths per 100,000 residents
25. North Carolina — 19.7 deaths per 100,00 residents
26. Wisconsin — 19.3 deaths per 100,000 residents
27. Illinois — 18.9 deaths per 100,000 residents
28. South Carolina — 18.1 deaths per 100,000 residents
29. New York — 18.0 deaths per 100,000 residents
30. Wyoming — 17.6 deaths per 100,000 residents
31. Alaska — 16.8 deaths per 100,000 residents
32. Virginia — 16.7 deaths per 100,000 residents
33. Colorado — 16.6 deaths per 100,000 residents
34. Alabama — 16.2 deaths per 100,000 residents
35. Idaho — 15.2 deaths per 100,000 residents
36. Washington — 14.5 deaths per 100,000 residents
37. Arkansas — 14.0 deaths per 100,000 residents
38. Georgia — 13.3 deaths per 100,000 residents
39. Hawaii — 12.8 deaths per 100,000 residents
40. Minnesota — 12.5 deaths per 100,000 residents
41. Mississippi — 12.1 deaths per 100,000 residents
42. Oregon — 11.9 deaths per 100,000 residents
43. Montana — 11.7 deaths per 100,000 residents
44. California — 11.2 deaths per 100,000 residents
45. Kansas — 11.1 deaths per 100,000 residents
46. North Dakota (tie) — 10.6 deaths per 100,000 residents
47. Iowa (tie) — 10.6 deaths per 100,000 residents
48. Texas — 10.1 deaths per 100,000 residents
49. South Dakota — 8.4 deaths per 100,000 residents
50. Nebraska — 6.4 per 100,000 residents

Related:
— This City’s Overdose Deaths Have Plunged. Can Others Learn From It?