Suicide Rates by Geographic Region/State

Suicide Rates by Geographic Region/State

In 2010, suicide rates were highest in the West (13.6), followed by the South (12.6), the Midwest (12.0) and the Northeast (9.3). Six U.S. states, all in the West, had age-adjusted suicide rates in excess of 18: Wyoming (23.2), Alaska (23.1), Montana (22.9), Nevada (20.3), New Mexico (20.1) and Idaho (18.5). Four locales had age-adjusted suicide rates lower than 9 per 100,000: New York (8.0) and New Jersey (8.2) in the Northeast, and Maryland (8.7) and the District of Columbia (6.8), in the Southeast (Figure 6).

Suicide Methods

In 2010, firearms were the most common method of death by suicide, accounting for a little more than half (50.6%) of all suicide deaths. The next most common methods were suffocation (including hangings) at 24.8% and poisoning at 17.3% (Figure 7).

Economic Impact of Completed Suicides

The economic cost of suicide death in the U.S. is estimated to be $34 billion annually. With the burden of suicide falling most heavily on adults of working age, the cost to the economy results almost entirely from lost wages and work productivity.

Suicide Attempts

No complete count is kept of suicide attempts in the U.S.; however, the CDC gathers data each year from hospitals on non-fatal injuries resulting from self-harm behavior.
In 2010, the most recent year for which data is available, 464,995 people visited a hospital for injuries due to self-harm behavior, suggesting that approximately 12 people harm themselves (not necessarily intending to take their lives) for every reported death by suicide. Together, those harming themselves made an estimated total of more than 650,000 hospital visits related to injuries sustained in one or more separate incidents of self-harm behavior.
Because of the way these data are collected, we are not able to distinguish intentional suicide attempts from non-intentional self-harm behaviors. But we know that many suicide attempts go unreported or untreated, and surveys suggest that at least one million people in the U.S. each year engage in intentionally inflicted self-harm.
As with suicide deaths, rates of attempted suicide vary considerably among demographic groups. While males are 4 times more likely than females to die by suicide, females attempt suicide 3 times as often as males. The ratio of suicide attempts to suicide death in youth is estimated to be about 25:1, compared to a about 4:1 in the elderly.

Economic Impact of Suicide Attempts

Non-fatal injuries due to self-harm cost an estimated $3 billion annually for medical care. Another $5 billion is spent for indirect costs, such as lost wages and productivity.