US states by firearm death rate

Alaska had the highest firearm death rate of 51 states in 2017, at 24.5 per 100,000 people. Hawaii had the lowest, at 2.5 per 100,000 people. The median was 13.1 per 100,000 people. Source: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Highest24.5Alaska

Lowest2.5Hawaii

Median13.151 states

All states, 2017

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	2017 per 100,000 people	Change on 2016
1	Alaska	24.5	+1.2 pts
2	Alabama	22.9	+1.4 pts
3	Montana	22.5	+3.6 pts
4	Louisiana	21.7	+0.4 pts
5	Mississippi	21.5	+1.6 pts
5	Missouri	21.5	+2.5 pts
7	Arkansas	20.3	+2.5 pts
8	Wyoming	18.8	+1.4 pts
9	West Virginia	18.6	+1.1 pts
10	New Mexico	18.5	+0.4 pts
11	Tennessee	18.4	+1.3 pts
12	South Carolina	17.7	0 pts
13	Oklahoma	17.2	-2.4 pts
14	Nevada	16.7	-0.1 pts
15	Idaho	16.4	+1.8 pts
16	Kentucky	16.2	-1.3 pts
17	Kansas	16	+2.6 pts
18	Arizona	15.8	+0.6 pts
19	Georgia	15.4	+0.4 pts
20	Indiana	15.3	+0.3 pts
21	Utah	14	+1.1 pts
22	North Carolina	13.7	0 pts
22	Ohio	13.7	+0.8 pts
24	Colorado	13.4	-0.9 pts
25	North Dakota	13.2	+1.3 pts
26	District of Columbia	13.1	-0.7 pts
27	Pennsylvania	12.5	+0.5 pts
28	Florida	12.4	-0.2 pts
28	Texas	12.4	+0.3 pts
30	Maryland	12.3	+0.4 pts
31	Illinois	12.1	+0.4 pts
31	Oregon	12.1	+0.2 pts
33	South Dakota	11.9	-1.5 pts
33	Virginia	11.9	-0.2 pts
35	Delaware	11.7	+0.7 pts
35	Maine	11.7	+3.4 pts
35	Vermont	11.7	+0.6 pts
38	Michigan	11.3	-1 pts
39	Washington	11.1	+2.1 pts
40	Wisconsin	10.6	-0.8 pts
41	New Hampshire	10.4	+1.1 pts
42	Iowa	9	-0.2 pts
43	Nebraska	8.3	-0.8 pts
44	Minnesota	8.2	+0.6 pts
45	California	7.9	0 pts
46	New Jersey	5.3	-0.2 pts
47	Connecticut	5.1	+0.5 pts
48	Rhode Island	3.9	-0.2 pts
49	Massachusetts	3.7	+0.3 pts
49	New York	3.7	-0.7 pts
51	Hawaii	2.5	-2 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, 2017) [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, 2017. 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=2017. 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, 2017. 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=2017.

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, 2017 [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=2017 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{centers_us_states_by_firearm_2017,
  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, 2017}},
  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=2017. 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, 2017
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=2017
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/firearm-death-rate/us-states?period=2017.
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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Questions

Which state has the highest firearm death rate?

Alaska, with 24.5 per 100,000 people in 2017, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Which state has the lowest firearm death rate?

Hawaii, with 2.5 per 100,000 people in 2017.

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.