Overdose deaths and rates by state, 2014 and 2024

What this dataset measures

Assembled to test the Washington Policy Center claim, in its March 2026 report "Homelessness in Washington State", that Washington had the highest growth in per-capita drug overdose deaths of any state from 2014 to 2024 (188%), rising from 29th to 4th. Every state is included so the ranking can be checked, and the three rate bases show whether the ranking depends on method.

Geography

United States, All 50 states, Washington

Unit of observation

State (2014 vs 2024 comparison); state-year (yearly rates); year (Washington drug-specific counts).

Update cadence

One-time release. CDC publishes final 2025 data in late 2026.

Curator

FactHub Research Team

Curated data tables

Overdose deaths and rates by state, 2014 and 2024

All 50 states. 2014 from CDC xbxb-epbu; 2024 final from the CDC state map file; 2024 provisional from CDC VSRR; 2024 population from Census Vintage 2024. Ranks: 1 = highest, ties share the higher rank.

Unit of observation: State

states-2014-2024.csv text/csv · 5.7 KB (5,838 bytes)

All 50 rows 24 columns Download the file

All 50 rows

state	stateCode	censusRegionWest	deaths2014 deaths	population2014 people	crudeRate2014 deaths per 100,000 people	ageAdjRate2014 deaths per 100,000 standard population	deaths2024 deaths	population2024 people	crudeRate2024 deaths per 100,000 people	ageAdjRate2024 deaths per 100,000 standard population	provisionalDeaths2024 deaths	provisionalCrudeRate2024 deaths per 100,000 people	ageAdjChangePct percent	crudeChangePct percent	provisionalCrudeChangePct percent	ageAdjRank2014 rank	ageAdjRank2024 rank	crudeRank2014 rank	crudeRank2024 rank	provisionalCrudeRank2024 rank	ageAdjChangeRank rank	crudeChangeRank rank	provisionalCrudeChangeRank rank
Alabama	AL	false	723	4849377	14.9	15.2	1211	5157699	23.5	25	1183	22.9	64.5	57.5	53.8	25	24	25	24	27	18	24	24
Alaska	AK	true	124	736732	16.8	16.8	340	740133	45.9	45.1	339	45.8	168.5	172.9	172.1	22	2	21	2	3	2	2	3
Arizona	AZ	true	1211	6731484	18	18.2	2453	7582384	32.4	32.6	2531	33.4	79.1	79.8	85.5	15	13	15	10	10	16	15	13
Arkansas	AR	false	356	2966369	12	12.6	416	3088354	13.5	13.9	390	12.6	10.3	12.2	5.2	36	47	37	47	47	46	46	46
California	CA	true	4521	38802500	11.7	11.1	9028	39431263	22.9	21.7	9849	25	95.5	96.5	114.4	43	27	40	27	22	8	9	7
Colorado	CO	true	899	5355866	16.8	16.3	1610	5957493	27	25.7	1640	27.5	57.7	61	64	24	19	22	17	16	23	19	20
Connecticut	CT	false	623	3596677	17.3	17.6	995	3675069	27.1	26.2	998	27.2	48.9	56.3	56.8	19	18	20	16	17	29	25	21
Delaware	DE	false	189	935614	20.2	20.9	338	1051917	32.1	33.4	351	33.4	59.8	59.1	65.2	9	12	9	11	11	22	21	18
Florida	FL	false	2634	19893297	13.2	13.2	4958	23372215	21.2	21.3	5222	22.3	61.4	60.2	68.7	33	29	32	30	29	20	20	16
Georgia	GA	false	1206	10097343	11.9	11.9	2029	11180878	18.1	18.1	2034	18.2	52.1	51.9	52.3	38	40	38	39	38	27	27	25
Hawaii	HI	true	157	1419561	11.1	10.9	333	1446146	23	21	338	23.4	92.7	108.2	111.3	44	31	44	26	26	10	7	8
Idaho	ID	true	212	1634464	13	13.7	338	2001619	16.9	17.3	328	16.4	26.3	30.2	26.3	31	42	35	43	42	38	38	38
Illinois	IL	false	1705	12880580	13.2	13.1	2531	12710158	19.9	19.3	2532	19.9	47.3	50.4	50.5	34	37	33	34	32	30	28	26
Indiana	IN	false	1172	6596855	17.8	18.2	1717	6924275	24.8	25.7	1695	24.5	41.2	39.6	37.8	15	19	18	23	24	32	32	31
Iowa	IA	false	264	3107126	8.5	8.8	427	3241488	13.2	13.7	427	13.2	55.7	55	55	47	48	47	48	46	24	26	23
Kansas	KS	false	332	2904021	11.4	11.7	570	2970606	19.2	19.7	560	18.9	68.4	67.8	64.9	39	36	42	37	36	17	17	19
Kentucky	KY	false	1077	4413457	24.4	24.7	1492	4588372	32.5	33.5	1538	33.5	35.6	33.3	37.4	4	9	4	9	9	35	35	33
Louisiana	LA	false	777	4649676	16.7	16.9	1467	4597740	31.9	33.5	1503	32.7	98.2	90.9	95.6	21	9	23	13	12	7	11	10
Maine	ME	false	216	1330089	16.2	16.8	483	1405012	34.4	35.2	478	34	109.5	111.7	109.5	22	6	24	8	8	6	6	9
Maryland	MD	false	1070	5976407	17.9	17.4	1772	6263220	28.3	26.9	1750	27.9	54.6	58	56.1	20	17	16	15	15	25	23	22
Massachusetts	MA	false	1289	6745408	19.1	19	1590	7136171	22.3	21.8	1598	22.4	14.7	16.6	17.2	13	26	13	29	28	43	43	42
Michigan	MI	false	1762	9909877	17.8	18	1944	10140459	19.2	19.1	1964	19.4	6.1	7.8	8.9	18	38	17	38	35	47	48	44
Minnesota	MN	false	517	5457173	9.5	9.6	995	5793151	17.2	17.3	994	17.2	80.2	81.3	81.1	46	42	46	42	40	15	14	15
Mississippi	MS	false	336	2994079	11.2	11.6	525	2943045	17.8	18.6	491	16.7	60.3	59	48.7	41	39	43	40	41	21	22	29
Missouri	MO	false	1067	6063589	17.6	18.2	1461	6245466	23.4	23.7	1482	23.7	30.2	32.9	34.8	15	25	19	25	25	37	37	34
Montana	MT	true	125	1023579	12.2	12.4	170	1137233	14.9	15.3	171	15	23.4	22.4	23.1	37	45	36	45	45	40	41	40
Nebraska	NE	false	125	1881503	6.6	7.2	155	2005465	7.7	8.1	145	7.2	12.5	16.3	8.8	49	50	49	50	50	44	44	45
Nevada	NV	true	545	2839099	19.2	18.4	1237	3267467	37.9	35.9	1510	46.2	95.1	97.2	140.7	14	5	12	4	2	9	8	5
New Hampshire	NH	false	334	1326813	25.2	26.2	293	1409032	20.8	21.6	282	20	-17.6	-17.4	-20.5	3	28	3	32	31	50	50	50
New Jersey	NJ	false	1253	8938175	14	14	1992	9500851	21	20.2	1983	20.9	44.3	49.6	48.9	28	33	28	31	30	31	30	28
New Mexico	NM	true	547	2085572	26.2	27.3	775	2130256	36.4	37.1	794	37.3	35.9	38.7	42.1	2	4	2	5	5	34	33	30
New York	NY	false	2300	19746227	11.6	11.3	4449	19867248	22.4	21.3	2365	11.9	88.5	92.3	2.2	42	29	41	28	48	12	10	47
North Carolina	NC	false	1358	9943964	13.7	13.8	2780	11046024	25.2	25.7	2924	26.5	86.2	84.3	93.8	30	19	30	21	19	13	13	11
North Dakota	ND	false	43	739482	5.8	6.3	108	796568	13.6	14.8	120	15.1	134.9	133.2	159.1	50	46	50	46	44	5	5	4
Ohio	OH	false	2744	11594163	23.7	24.6	3165	11883304	26.6	27.2	3144	26.5	10.6	12.5	11.8	5	16	5	19	20	45	45	43
Oklahoma	OK	false	777	3878051	20	20.3	1019	4095393	24.9	25.5	1017	24.8	25.6	24.2	23.9	10	23	10	22	23	39	39	39
Oregon	OR	true	522	3970239	13.1	12.8	1500	4272371	35.1	33.5	1534	35.9	161.7	167	173.1	35	9	34	6	6	3	3	2
Pennsylvania	PA	false	2732	12787209	21.4	21.9	3341	13078751	25.5	25.6	3397	26	16.9	19.6	21.6	8	22	7	20	21	42	42	41
Rhode Island	RI	false	247	1055173	23.4	23.4	323	1112308	29	28	341	30.7	19.7	24.1	31	6	14	6	14	14	41	40	36
South Carolina	SC	false	701	4832482	14.5	14.4	1467	5478831	26.8	27.5	1479	27	91	84.6	86.1	27	15	27	18	18	11	12	12
South Dakota	SD	false	63	853175	7.4	7.8	98	924669	10.6	11.9	89	9.6	52.6	43.5	30.3	48	49	48	49	49	26	31	37
Tennessee	TN	false	1269	6549352	19.4	19.5	2499	7227750	34.6	35.2	2568	35.5	80.5	78.4	83.4	11	6	11	7	7	14	16	14
Texas	TX	false	2601	26956958	9.6	9.7	4980	31290831	15.9	15.8	5030	16.1	62.9	64.9	66.6	45	44	45	44	43	19	18	17
Utah	UT	true	603	2942902	20.5	22.4	674	3503613	19.2	20.3	691	19.7	-9.4	-6.1	-3.7	7	32	8	36	33	49	49	49
Vermont	VT	false	83	626562	13.2	13.9	208	648493	32.1	33.6	205	31.6	141.7	142.1	138.6	29	8	31	12	13	4	4	6
Virginia	VA	false	980	8326289	11.8	11.7	1552	8811195	17.6	17.6	1547	17.6	50.4	49.7	49.2	39	41	39	41	39	28	29	27
Washington	WA	true	979	7061530	13.9	13.3	3145	7958180	39.5	37.6	3183	40	182.7	185.1	188.5	32	3	29	3	4	1	1	1
West Virginia	WV	false	627	1850326	33.9	35.5	821	1769979	46.4	48.9	826	46.7	37.7	36.9	37.7	1	1	1	1	1	33	34	32
Wisconsin	WI	false	853	5757564	14.8	15.1	1175	5960975	19.7	19.8	1173	19.7	31.1	33	32.8	26	35	26	35	34	36	36	35
Wyoming	WY	true	109	584153	18.7	19.4	120	587618	20.4	20.1	107	18.2	3.6	9.4	-2.4	12	34	14	33	37	48	47	48

24 field definitions

Field	Type	Meaning	Units	Value type
state	string	State name.	—	observed
stateCode	string	Two-letter postal code.	—	observed
censusRegionWest	boolean	True for the 13 states in the Census Bureau West region.	—	derived
deaths2014	integer	Drug overdose deaths, 2014, by residence.	deaths	observed
population2014	integer	Population used by NCHS for 2014.	people	observed
crudeRate2014	number	Crude death rate, 2014.	deaths per 100,000 people	observed
ageAdjRate2014	number	Age-adjusted death rate, 2014, rounded to one decimal.	deaths per 100,000 standard population	observed
deaths2024	integer	Drug overdose deaths, 2024 final, by residence.	deaths	observed
population2024	integer	July 1, 2024 population (Census Vintage 2024).	people	observed
crudeRate2024	number	Crude death rate, 2024 final.	deaths per 100,000 people	derived
ageAdjRate2024	number	Age-adjusted death rate, 2024 final.	deaths per 100,000 standard population	observed
provisionalDeaths2024	integer	Provisional deaths in the 12 months ending December 2024 (predicted value), by state where the death happened.	deaths	estimated
provisionalCrudeRate2024	number	Crude rate from the provisional count.	deaths per 100,000 people	derived
ageAdjChangePct	number	Percent change in the age-adjusted rate, 2014 to 2024.	percent	derived
crudeChangePct	number	Percent change in the crude rate, 2014 to 2024 final.	percent	derived
provisionalCrudeChangePct	number	Percent change from the 2014 crude rate to the 2024 provisional crude rate.	percent	derived
ageAdjRank2014	integer	Rank of ageAdjRate2014 among 50 states.	rank	derived
ageAdjRank2024	integer	Rank of ageAdjRate2024.	rank	derived
crudeRank2014	integer	Rank of the 2014 crude rate.	rank	derived
crudeRank2024	integer	Rank of the 2024 final crude rate.	rank	derived
provisionalCrudeRank2024	integer	Rank of the 2024 provisional crude rate.	rank	derived
ageAdjChangeRank	integer	Rank of ageAdjChangePct.	rank	derived
crudeChangeRank	integer	Rank of crudeChangePct.	rank	derived
provisionalCrudeChangeRank	integer	Rank of provisionalCrudeChangePct.	rank	derived

Supporting files

Source snapshots, manifests, quality reports, documentation, and other materials used to produce or review this release.

• build.js Transformation manifest · text/javascript · 12.2 KB (12,539 bytes)

  Node.js script that builds every table and saved-analysis result from the source files.

• analysis-results.json Derived table · application/json · 17.1 KB (17,545 bytes)

  Structured results of every saved analysis, as JSON keyed by analysis id.

Sources

1. CDC National Center for Health Statistics 2014 drug overdose (drug poisoning) deaths, population, crude and age-adjusted rates by state, both sexes, all ages.

   Retrieved November 3, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Permitted

   Reliability: Government. NCHS builds these figures from every death certificate filed in the U.S. through the National Vital Statistics System, the same data CDC WONDER serves. Deaths are counted by state of residence.

2. CDC National Center for Health Statistics Final age-adjusted drug overdose death rates and deaths by state of residence, 2015-2024 (map data file behind the page). Not used for 2014, where its Arizona and Arkansas rows are swapped.

   Retrieved October 18, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Permitted

   Reliability: Government. Official NCHS state statistics from final National Vital Statistics System mortality files, age-adjusted to the 2000 U.S. standard population.

3. CDC National Center for Health Statistics U.S. final 2024 overdose deaths (79,384) and age-adjusted rate (23.1).

   Retrieved October 18, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Permitted

   Reliability: Government. Official NCHS data brief from final 2024 mortality data.

4. CDC National Center for Health Statistics U.S. final age-adjusted rates, 2014-2023.

   Retrieved October 18, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Permitted

   Reliability: Government. Official NCHS data brief from final mortality data.

5. CDC National Center for Health Statistics, Vital Statistics Rapid Release Provisional 12-month counts ending December 2024 for every state (predicted values), and Washington counts involving synthetic opioids other than methadone (T40.4), 2019-2024. Free copy

   Retrieved October 18, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Permitted

   Reliability: Government. Provisional death-certificate counts by state where the death happened, updated monthly; predicted values adjust for reporting delays.

6. U.S. Census Bureau July 1, 2024 resident population by state (Vintage 2024), used to compute 2024 crude rates.

   Retrieved November 3, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Permitted

   Reliability: Government. Official Census Bureau population estimates program, based on the 2020 Census plus births, deaths and migration.

7. Washington Policy Center The claim checked: executive summary of "Homelessness in Washington State" (Eric Zimmerman, March 2026).

   Retrieved November 3, 2026. All rights reserved (quoted for review). Linked, not hosted.

   Reliability: Advocacy group. Has a stake in this finding. Washington Policy Center is a free-market think tank. The report argues that drug use and drug policy, more than rent, drive Washington homelessness, so the overdose ranking supports its thesis.

8. Washington Policy Center Full report, including its method notes (crude rates; CDC WONDER 2014 and NVSS 2024 provisional data).

   Retrieved November 3, 2026. All rights reserved (quoted for review). Linked, not hosted.

   Reliability: Advocacy group. Has a stake in this finding. Same report as the executive summary; its method pages state that 2014-2024 growth uses crude rates and 2024 projected (provisional) counts.

9. KIRO Newsradio (MyNorthwest) Interview in which report author Eric Zimmerman states Washington went from 29th in 2014 to 4th in 2024.

   Retrieved November 3, 2026. All rights reserved (quoted for review). Linked, not hosted.

   Reliability: News report. Article by host John Curley quoting Zimmerman directly, July 19, 2026.

Limitations and reproducibility

Reproducible: build.js (Node.js, no dependencies) rebuilds every table and saved-analysis result from the CDC and Census files listed in sources, fetched October 18 to November 3, 2026. U.S. 2024 final figures are typed from NCHS Data Brief 549.

• Age-adjusted rates (CDC's standard for comparing states) and crude rates (deaths divided by population) rank states slightly differently. Washington's 2014 rank is 32nd on age-adjusted rates and 29th on crude rates.
• Final CDC counts are by state of residence. The 2024 provisional counts are by the state where the death happened, so states with many visitors, such as Nevada, show higher provisional rates (Nevada: 1,510 provisional vs 1,237 final deaths in 2024).
• CDC's state map data file (Drug_Overdose_dfe.json) swaps Arizona's and Arkansas's 2014 values: it shows Arizona with 356 deaths and Arkansas with 1,211. CDC's detailed table (data.cdc.gov xbxb-epbu) has Arizona 1,211 and Arkansas 356, consistent with both states' other years. This dataset uses the detailed table for every 2014 value. With the map file's values, Arizona would wrongly rank 4th in growth.
• 2024 crude rates use Census Bureau Vintage 2024 population estimates; CDC WONDER may use a slightly different population vintage, which can move crude rates by about 0.1 per 100,000.
• Growth rankings depend on the start year. Washington ranks 1st from 2014 but 3rd, behind Alaska and Oregon, for windows starting in 2015, 2019 or 2020.
• These are descriptive counts and rates. Nothing in this dataset estimates the effect of State v. Blake, drug possession laws or any other policy.
• Washington's first place is in percentage growth. Measured as deaths added per 100,000, Alaska rose more (+28.3 vs +24.3, age-adjusted).