States with the highest rates of depression
Depression is a leading cause of disability worldwide, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the World Health Organization, and the Pan American Health Organization. Those who suffer from it are at much greater risk for things like metabolic and cardiovascular disease, and the global economy suffers $1 trillion in lost productivity every year to anxiety and depression disorders alone. Substance abuse is more prevalent among people with depression. Young people, who are more than twice as likely to drop out of school when they suffer from depression, are especially vulnerable.
In recent years, these issues have become increasingly prevalent in American society. The COVID-19 pandemic brought with it a dramatic nationwide spike in cases of depression and anxiety. But those numbers have continued to go up even after the pandemic, and in May 2023, depression rates across the U.S. reached an all-time high. According to data gathered by Gallup, 29% of adults reported having been diagnosed with depression at some point in their lifetime.
Rates of depression, however, vary considerably from one state to the next. Here, Stacker examines the prevalence of depression in every state in America and then breaks down those findings by key demographics like sex, race, and income.
To determine the states with the highest rates of depression, Stacker used data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. All 50 states and Washington D.C. are ranked based on the share of the sampled population that reported a depression diagnosis in 2020. The national median for diagnosed depression rates is 19.5%.
It's important to note that the findings are limited to, in essence, the first nine months of the pandemic, and therefore exclude the time of the pandemic thereafter. Consequently, the data may not represent an uptick in cases—particularly in major depressive episodes—that many states may have realized post-2020.
