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Gun death and violence in the United States by state

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Gun-related suicides and homicides in the United States, 1999-2024.[1]
Handguns are involved in most U.S. gun homicides.[2]
Annual gun-related death rates are positively correlated with household gun ownership rates.[3]
A 2023 study concluded that more restrictive state gun policies reduced homicide and suicide gun deaths.[4]

This is a list of US states by gun deaths and rates of violence. In 2021, there were 26,000 gun suicides and 21,000 gun homicides, together making up a sixth of deaths from external causes. Gun deaths make up about half of all suicides, and over 80% of homicides.[5]

In 2021, gun deaths rose to levels not seen since the 1990s, but remained below rates of the 1970s.[6]

A 2022 study found that guns were the cause of more years lost than any other source of traumatic injury, including motor vehicles.[7]

2022 overall gun death rates and counts

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The statistics are from 2022 CDC data.[3]

2022 overall gun death rates (per 100,000 population) and counts
Location Death rates Deaths
Mississippi 29.6 848
Louisiana 28.2 1,266
New Mexico 27.3 571
Alabama 25.5 1,278
Missouri 24.2 1,489
Montana 23.9 274
Alaska 22.4 164
Arkansas 21.9 666
District Of Columbia 21.4 154
South Carolina 20.8 1,105
Tennessee 20.5 1,480
Wyoming 20.4 124
Arizona 20.1 1,535
Oklahoma 19.8 797
Georgia 19.7 2,163
Nevada 18.9 618
Kentucky 18.8 840
Indiana 17.4 1,211
Colorado 17.1 1,036
Idaho 17 338
Kansas 16.8 492
North Carolina 16.8 1,831
North Dakota 16.4 125
West Virginia 16.2 311
South Dakota 15.7 141
Ohio 15.6 1,831
Texas 15.3 4,630
Michigan 15 1,504
Virginia 14.9 1,316
Pennsylvania 14.7 1,941
Illinois 14.4 1,798
Oregon 14.4 655
Florida 14 3,232
Wisconsin 14 830
Utah 13.7 446
Maryland 13.6 813
Washington 12.4 1,022
Nebraska 12.2 244
Vermont 12 84
Delaware 11.9 124
Maine 11.7 179
Iowa 11.2 367
New Hampshire 10.1 156
Minnesota 9.6 561
California 8.6 3,484
Connecticut 6.9 252
New York 5.3 1,044
New Jersey 5 468
Hawaii 4.5 66
Massachusetts 3.7 263
Rhode Island 3.1 37

2021 gun death rates for suicide and homicide

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Gun suicide rate by state, 2021.[5]
Gun homicide rate by state, 2021.[5]
Gun death rate by county, 2023.[8]
Percent of households with guns in 2016. RAND Corporation.[9][10]

The statistics are from 2021 CDC data.[5] Rates are per 100,000 inhabitants. The percent of households with guns by US state is from the RAND Corporation, and is for 2016.[9][10]

2021 gun death rates for suicide and homicide. And overall rates for each.
LocationGun suicide rateSuicide rateGun homicide rateHomicide rate% gun at home
 United States7.914.56.37.8[a]
 Wyoming23.732.81.72.861%
 Montana21.631.72.74.265%
 Alaska19.430.04.26.757%
 New Mexico14.425.210.914.536%
 Oklahoma13.822.06.48.655%
 Idaho13.820.41.52.258%
 North Dakota13.220.12.63.153%
 Nevada13.122.06.38.433%
 Arkansas12.920.49.311.152%
 Colorado12.823.84.76.338%
 West Virginia12.721.04.86.460%
 Alabama12.416.412.914.853%
 Missouri12.119.19.911.653%
 Arizona12.120.35.97.736%
 Oregon11.920.93.44.841%
 Kentucky11.818.18.19.053%
 Kansas11.819.14.96.142%
 Tennessee11.717.510.211.647%
 Maine11.520.20.91.548%
 Vermont11.522.0[b]1.550%
 Mississippi11.316.319.822.254%
 South Dakota10.922.72.85.055%
 Utah10.919.32.12.740%
 South Carolina10.515.510.712.645%
 Georgia10.315.59.511.238%
 Indiana10.216.67.69.242%
 Louisiana10.014.917.420.452%
 Iowa9.217.22.02.939%
 Florida8.915.45.36.729%
 North Carolina8.713.78.19.437%
 Texas8.614.26.68.136%
 Ohio8.415.07.48.742%
 Wisconsin8.215.34.95.947%
 Virginia8.213.75.87.035%
 Michigan8.114.87.08.239%
 New Hampshire8.016.1[c]1.146%
 Washington8.015.93.34.532%
 Pennsylvania7.714.56.68.540%
 Delaware7.613.78.010.339%
 Nebraska7.414.72.33.639%
 Minnesota6.914.22.94.139%
 Illinois5.211.510.211.723%
 Maryland5.010.19.611.517%
 California4.010.64.76.416%
 Connecticut3.411.13.24.419%
 Rhode Island3.310.72.53.714%
 Hawaii2.914.01.62.79%
 New York2.28.43.14.614%
 New Jersey2.17.43.04.49%
 Massachusetts1.98.61.42.39%
 District of Columbia1.86.925.233.3[d]

2021 gun death count totals, and by category

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The statistics are from 2021 CDC data.[5]

Missing values indicate between 1 and 9 deaths for the year, so the specific figure is suppressed.[12]

2021 gun death totals by intent
StateGun deathsSuicideHomicideAccidentLaw
 United States48,83026,32820,958549537
 Texas4,6132,5281,9425338
 California3,5761,5751,8613289
 Florida3,1421,9281,1501825
 Georgia2,2001,1151,0212522
 Illinois1,9956561,2921518
 Ohio1,9119918722112
 Pennsylvania1,9059978612513
 North Carolina1,8399168504615
 Tennessee1,56981471411
 Michigan1,544810701
 Missouri1,4147476092415
 Arizona1,36587943026
 Alabama1,3156236501911
 Louisiana1,31446380427
 Indiana1,2516955171510
 Virginia1,24870950512
 South Carolina1,13654655821
 New York1,07843961315
 Colorado1,06474527629
 Mississippi96233358321
 Kentucky94753436425
 Maryland9153105920
 Washington896617254
 Oklahoma83655125711
 Wisconsin793484290
 Arkansas69839128111
 Oregon67050514612
 Nevada633413199
 New Mexico57830523026
 Minnesota57339316410
 Kansas50334514510
 New Jersey4751952760
 Utah45036470
 Iowa36429364
 West Virginia31922786
 Idaho3092622811
 Montana28023930
 Connecticut248122116
 Massachusetts247136990
 Nebraska20014546
 District of Columbia185121690
 Alaska18214231
 Maine17815812
 Delaware15876800
 Wyoming15513710
 North Dakota128102200
 South Dakota12898250
 New Hampshire123111
 Vermont83740
 Hawaii714223
 Rhode Island6436270

See also

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Notes

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  1. ↑ No data from RAND source. Gallup reports about 40% of adults in the US live with a gun.[11]
  2. ↑ Vermont had between 1 and 9 gun murders in 2021, so the specific figure is suppressed.[12] If it had 5 gun murders, its gun murder rate would be 0.8 per 100 thousand.
  3. ↑ New Hampshire had between 1 and 9 gun murders in 2021, so the specific figure is suppressed.[12] If it had 5 gun murders, its gun murder rate would be 0.4 per 100 thousand.
  4. ↑ No data available.

References

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  1. ↑ ● Data through 2016: "Guns / Firearm-related deaths". NSC.org copy of U.S. Government (CDC) data. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. December 2017. Archived from the original on August 29, 2018. Retrieved August 29, 2018. (archive of actual data).
    ● 2017 data: Howard, Jacqueline (December 13, 2018). "Gun deaths in US reach highest level in nearly 40 years, CDC data reveal". CNN. Archived from the original on December 13, 2018. (2017 CDC data)
    ● 2018 data: "New CDC Data Show 39,740 People Died by Gun Violence in 2018". efsgv.org. January 31, 2020. Archived from the original on February 16, 2020. (2018 CDC data)
    ● 2019-2025 data: "Past Summary Ledgers". Gun Violence Archive. January 2026. Archived from the original on January 13, 2026.
  2. ↑ ● Murder Victims by Weapon, 2012–2016, Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Reporting Program. Archived from the original on January 18, 2020. (used only for 2012 and 2013 data)
    ● Murder Victims by Weapon, 2014–2018, Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Reporting Program. Archived from the original on January 18, 2020.
    ● Murder Victims by Weapon, 2015–2019, Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Reporting Program. Archived from the original on November 22, 2020.
  3. 1 2 ● Mortality data from "Firearm Mortality by State". cdc.gov. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. 2022. Archived from the original on June 3, 2023. The number of deaths per 100,000 total population. Source: wonder.cdc.gov
    ● Household firearm ownership data from Schell, Terry L.; Peterson, Samuel; Vegetabile, Brian G.; Scherling, Adam; Smart, Rosanna; Morral, Andrew R. (April 22, 2020). "State-Level Estimates of Household Firearm Ownership". rand.org. RAND Corporation. Archived from the original on May 5, 2023. (Click on "Download the Database", extract the xlsx file, and choose the tab at the bottom of the xlsx file to see the long data listing, select data for particular year.)
  4. ↑ Sharkey, Patrick; Kang, Megan (November 2023). "The Era of Progress on Gun Mortality: State Gun Regulations and Gun Deaths from 1991 to 2016". Epidemiology. 34 (6): 786–792. doi:10.1097/EDE.0000000000001662. Fig. 2. ● Sharkey et al. are cited by Lopez, German (November 1, 2023). "A Drop in American Gun Violence". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 2, 2023. Trendline is from Times article.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "Underlying Cause of Death". cdc.gov. Retrieved February 11, 2024.
  6. ↑ "What the data says about gun deaths in the U.S." pewresearch.org. April 26, 2023. Retrieved February 16, 2024.
  7. ↑ Klein, Joshua; Prabhakaran, Kartik; Latifi, Rifat; Rhee, Peter (February 4, 2022). "Firearms: the leading cause of years of potential life lost". Trauma Surgery & Acute Care Open. 7 e000766. doi:10.1136/tsaco-2021-000766. PMC 8819782. PMID 35141422.
  8. ↑ Find the "2023 CHR CSV Analytic Data" link. "Rankings Data & Documentation". County Health Rankings. Retrieved February 11, 2024.
  9. 1 2 Schell, Terry L.; Peterson, Samuel; Vegetabile, Brian G.; Scherling, Adam; Smart, Rosanna; Morral, Andrew R. (April 22, 2020). "State-Level Estimates of Household Firearm Ownership". RAND Corporation. Archived from the original on May 5, 2023. Click on "Download the Database", extract the xlsx file, and choose the data tab at the bottom. Select state data for particular year from the HFR column. There is 2016 data for all states. Sort the year column.
  10. 1 2 "Gun Ownership in America". RAND Corporation. See 1980-2016 timeline graph: "This figure displays three-year rolling averages for household gun ownership rates in each state and the nation overall." Hover over state lines for year and percent. There is also a form to select state lines to show. Add one at a time.
  11. ↑ "What Percentage of Americans Own Guns?". gallup.com. November 13, 2020. Retrieved February 11, 2024.
  12. 1 2 3 "Data Release Questions". cdc.gov. August 31, 2023. Retrieved February 11, 2024.
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