US states by firearm death rate

Alaska had the highest firearm death rate of 51 states in 2016, at 23.3 per 100,000 people. Massachusetts had the lowest, at 3.4 per 100,000 people. The median was 12.9 per 100,000 people. Source: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Highest23.3Alaska

Lowest3.4Massachusetts

Median12.951 states

All states, 2016

per 100,000 people. Source: CDC, NCHS Stats of the States: firearm mortality by state, age-adjusted death rate. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

Rank	States	2016 per 100,000 people	Change on 2015
1	Alaska	23.3	-0.1 pts
2	Alabama	21.5	+1.9 pts
3	Louisiana	21.3	+0.9 pts
4	Mississippi	19.9	+0.3 pts
5	Oklahoma	19.6	+1.6 pts
6	Missouri	19	+0.9 pts
7	Montana	18.9	-0.3 pts
8	New Mexico	18.1	-0.5 pts
9	Arkansas	17.8	+0.9 pts
10	South Carolina	17.7	+0.4 pts
11	Kentucky	17.5	+2.3 pts
11	West Virginia	17.5	+3.5 pts
13	Wyoming	17.4	-2.2 pts
14	Tennessee	17.1	+1.1 pts
15	Nevada	16.8	+1.9 pts
16	Arizona	15.2	+1.4 pts
17	Georgia	15	+0.9 pts
17	Indiana	15	+2.3 pts
19	Idaho	14.6	-0.1 pts
20	Colorado	14.3	+1.7 pts
21	District of Columbia	13.8	-1.4 pts
22	North Carolina	13.7	+1.2 pts
23	Kansas	13.4	+2 pts
23	South Dakota	13.4	+2.3 pts
25	Ohio	12.9	+1 pts
25	Utah	12.9	+0.1 pts
27	Florida	12.6	+0.6 pts
28	Michigan	12.3	+0.6 pts
29	Texas	12.1	+0.4 pts
29	Virginia	12.1	+1.2 pts
31	Pennsylvania	12	+0.6 pts
32	Maryland	11.9	0 pts
32	North Dakota	11.9	-0.9 pts
32	Oregon	11.9	+0.5 pts
35	Illinois	11.7	+2.2 pts
36	Wisconsin	11.4	+1 pts
37	Vermont	11.1	+1.5 pts
38	Delaware	11	-1.1 pts
39	New Hampshire	9.3	+0.4 pts
40	Iowa	9.2	+1.4 pts
41	Nebraska	9.1	+0.2 pts
42	Washington	9	-0.8 pts
43	Maine	8.3	-1.5 pts
44	California	7.9	+0.2 pts
45	Minnesota	7.6	+0.2 pts
46	New Jersey	5.5	+0.1 pts
47	Connecticut	4.6	-0.7 pts
48	Hawaii	4.5	+0.9 pts
49	New York	4.4	+0.2 pts
50	Rhode Island	4.1	-0.6 pts
51	Massachusetts	3.4	+0.4 pts

Other periods

About this ranking

Deaths from firearm injuries of any intent (suicide, homicide, unintentional, legal intervention or undetermined) per 100,000 residents, age-adjusted to the 2000 US standard population. Deaths are counted by the state of residence. NCHS National Vital Statistics System final death data.

Available for US states and DC. Age adjustment allows states with older or younger populations to be compared; the rate is not the number of deaths divided by the population.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the states are compared on one definition. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). NCHS Stats of the States: firearm mortality by state, age-adjusted death rate. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/state-stats/deaths/firearms.html. Retrieved 2026-10-12. These data are available free from CDC. Use does not imply endorsement by CDC, ATSDR, HHS or the United States Government.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2026). NCHS Stats of the States: firearm mortality by state, age-adjusted death rate (US states by firearm death rate, 2016) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/state-stats/deaths/firearms.html

MLA 9

NCHS Stats of the States: firearm mortality by state, age-adjusted death rate, US states by firearm death rate, 2016. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 18 May 2026, https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/state-stats/deaths/firearms.html. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/firearm-death-rate/us-states?period=2016. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2026. NCHS Stats of the States: firearm mortality by state, age-adjusted death rate. US states by firearm death rate, 2016. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/state-stats/deaths/firearms.html. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/firearm-death-rate/us-states?period=2016.

Harvard

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2026) NCHS Stats of the States: firearm mortality by state, age-adjusted death rate, US states by firearm death rate, 2016 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/state-stats/deaths/firearms.html, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/firearm-death-rate/us-states?period=2016 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{centers_us_states_by_firearm_2016,
  author = {{Centers for Disease Control and Prevention}},
  title = {{NCHS Stats of the States: firearm mortality by state, age-adjusted death rate: US states by firearm death rate, 2016}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/state-stats/deaths/firearms.html},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/firearm-death-rate/us-states?period=2016. Publisher attribution: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). NCHS Stats of the States: firearm mortality by state, age-adjusted death rate. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/state-stats/deaths/firearms.html. Retrieved 2026-10-12. These data are available free from CDC. Use does not imply endorsement by CDC, ATSDR, HHS or the United States Government.},
}

RIS

TY  - DATA
AU  - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
TI  - NCHS Stats of the States: firearm mortality by state, age-adjusted death rate: US states by firearm death rate, 2016
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/05/18
PB  - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/state-stats/deaths/firearms.html
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/firearm-death-rate/us-states?period=2016
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/firearm-death-rate/us-states?period=2016.
N1  - Publisher attribution: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). NCHS Stats of the States: firearm mortality by state, age-adjusted death rate. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/state-stats/deaths/firearms.html. Retrieved 2026-10-12. These data are available free from CDC. Use does not imply endorsement by CDC, ATSDR, HHS or the United States Government.
ER  -

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Rank US states by firearm death rate using official data, and cite the source.

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Questions

Which state has the highest firearm death rate?

Alaska, with 23.3 per 100,000 people in 2016, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Which state has the lowest firearm death rate?

Massachusetts, with 3.4 per 100,000 people in 2016.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, NCHS Stats of the States: firearm mortality by state, age-adjusted death rate. Retrieved 2026-10-12.