About 1 in 4 King County overdose deaths now involve people in subsidized or supportive housing

What this chart asks

Is a rising share of King County's overdose deaths among people living in subsidized and supportive housing?

Why it is shown this way

• Bars for each year with a zero baseline show the size of the share honestly.
• The same January 1-November 5 window each year lets the incomplete 2026 count sit beside earlier years.

Chart annotations

These markers provide relevant context for interpreting the chart. Their timing or position does not, by itself, establish causation.

Includes supportive, income-restricted and recovery housing

Value: 0.25

The Medical Examiner's 'housing service site' category.

Why this is marked: Readers must know the category is broader than supportive housing alone.

Data and accessibility

Download chart data · Open accessible table · Download PNG · Download SVG

Dataset king-county-overdose-deaths-by-place, analysis housing-share-ytd

Sources

This chart draws on the sources of the dataset versions it visualizes.

King County overdose deaths by where people lived, 2019-2026

1. Public Health - Seattle & King County / King County Medical Examiner's Office Overdose death counts by year, presumed living situation and region (place of death)

   Retrieved November 6, 2026. Public government data. Counts are public government statistics; FactHub redistributes the aggregated counts it read.

   Reliability: Government. The county Medical Examiner investigates every suspected overdose death in King County; investigators record each person's presumed living situation. The county runs and funds much of the housing in the 'housing service site' category.

2. Public Health - Seattle & King County, Methods Report: Documentation and Analysis of Fatal Overdose Data Definitions of the living-situation categories and their limits

   Retrieved November 6, 2026. Public government document. Linked, not redistributed.

   Reliability: Government. The county health department's own description of how the dashboard's categories are assigned, including its warning that some categories may be inconsistently applied.

3. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2007-2025 Housing Inventory Count by CoC Permanent supportive housing and other permanent housing beds for Seattle/King County (WA-500)

   Retrieved October 10, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Public domain.

   Reliability: Government. A one-night inventory of beds reported each year by the local homelessness system to HUD; it counts beds, not occupants, and excludes most income-restricted and recovery housing.

4. CDC National Center for Health Statistics, Provisional Drug Overdose Death Counts (VSRR) 12-month-ending overdose death counts for the United States and Washington (December of each year)

   Retrieved November 6, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Public domain.

   Reliability: Government. Counts from death certificates by state of residence; recent months are provisional and adjusted for reporting delays.

5. CDC National Center for Health Statistics, Provisional County-Level Drug Overdose Death Counts 12-month-ending overdose deaths of King County residents

   Retrieved November 6, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Public domain.

   Reliability: Government. Provisional death-certificate counts by county of residence; used here only as a cross-check of the Medical Examiner's place-of-death counts.

Limitations

• The Medical Examiner's category combines permanent supportive housing with income-restricted and recovery housing.
• Shares are among deaths with a known living situation; 2026 has 31 deaths not yet categorized.
• A share is not a death rate: there is no public count of residents.