Ten States with the Highest Firearm Death Rates

In 2019, more than 39,700 deaths in the U.S. were the result of firearm incidents.  At 12.1 deaths per 100,000 population, the 2019 firearm death rate was almost 17.5% higher than it was twenty years earlier (10.3 deaths per 100,000 population in 1999).  While the 2019 national firearm death rate stood at 12.1 per 100,000 population, at the state level there was much disparity in death rates as some states experienced far more problems with firearms-caused deaths than did others.  Further examination of data from the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics revealed the following as the ten states with the highest firearm death rates in 2019:

State/Deaths	Deaths	Population	Death Rate*
AK	179	731,545	24.5
MS	710	2,976,149	23.9
WY	133	578,759	23.0
NM	471	2,096,829	22.5
AL	1,076	4,903,185	21.9
LA	1,013	4,648,794	21.8
MO	1,252	6,137,428	20.4
DC	141	705,749	20.0
SC	1,012	5,148,714	19.7
MT	209	1,068,778	19.6
Total	6,196	28,995,930	21.4
U.S.	39,707	328,239,523	12.1

(*) number of firearm-caused deaths per 100,000 population

Source: CDC Wonder. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. Underlying Cause of Death 1999-2019 on CDC WONDER Online Database, released in 2020. Data are from the Multiple Cause of Death Files, 1999-2019, as compiled from data provided by the 57 vital statistics jurisdictions through the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program. Accessed on November 26, 2021

related commentary:  U.S. Firearm Deaths by Region