In 2020, more than 96,000 deaths in the United States were attributed to drug-induced incidents, both intentional and accidental. In the Mid-Eastern U.S., a region that encompasses five states and the District of Columbia, drug-related incidents accounted for just over 17,000 deaths in 2020.  Relative to the size of its population, at 35.0 deaths per 100,000 population, the drug-induced death rate in the region was about 19.9% higher than the national average.  This gave the Mid-Eastern region the second-highest regional drug-induced death rate in the United States in 2020.   With most causes of death, in the Mid-Eastern region and throughout the U.S., higher death rates are typically found within populations in smaller communities and rural areas.  However, that does not apply to drug-induced deaths.  In the Mid-Eastern region, and throughout much of the U.S., the drug-induced death rate in 2020 was higher in more metropolitan areas than it was in smaller communities and rural areas.  A deeper examination of data from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) reveals the following details about urban vs. rural drug-induced death rates in the Mid-Eastern U.S. region:

Urban vs. Rural Drug-Induced Death Rates in the Mid-Eastern U.S.

County Classification	Deaths	Population	Death Rate*
Large Central Metro	6,318	16,027,707	39.4
Large Fringe Metro	6,363	20,382,556	31.2
Medium Metro	2,519	6,793,188	37.1
Small Metro	980	2,615,582	37.5
Micropolitan (Nonmetro)	617	2,074,663	29.7
NonCore (Nonmetro)	267	864,132	30.9
Region	17,064	48,757,828	35.0
Nationally	96,096	329,484,123	29.2

(*) number of drug-induced deaths per 100,000 population

Report Period: 2020

States in region:  Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania (plus the District of Columbia)

See the 2013 NCHS Urban-Rural Classification Scheme for additional information on population categories, including a map of which U.S. counties fall in which categories.

Source: CDC Wonder. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. Underlying Cause of Death 1999-2020 on CDC WONDER Online Database, released in 2021. Data are from the Multiple Cause of Death Files, 1999-2020, as compiled from data provided by the 57 vital statistics jurisdictions through the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program. Accessed on March 4, 2023