US states by firearm deaths

Texas had the highest firearm deaths of 51 states in 2015, at 3,203. Rhode Island had the lowest, at 51. The median was 520. Source: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Highest3,203Texas

Lowest51Rhode Island

Median52051 states

Map of states, 2015

Under 130
130 to 270
270 to 520
520 to 850
850 to 1,100
1,100 and over

count, 2015. Source: CDC, NCHS Stats of the States: firearm mortality by state, number of deaths. Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files.

All states, 2015

count. Source: CDC, NCHS Stats of the States: firearm mortality by state, number of deaths. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

Rank	States	2015 count	Change on 2014
1	Texas	3,203	+12.5%
2	California	3,095	+5.2%
3	Florida	2,559	+6.2%
4	Pennsylvania	1,485	+6.8%
5	Georgia	1,448	+4.1%
6	Ohio	1,397	+15.4%
7	North Carolina	1,289	+6.9%
8	Illinois	1,220	+3.5%
9	Michigan	1,164	+6.3%
10	Missouri	1,094	+16%
11	Tennessee	1,075	+5.8%
12	Arizona	970	+4.6%
13	Alabama	958	+17.5%
14	Louisiana	952	+6.3%
15	Virginia	946	+6.4%
16	South Carolina	850	+10.8%
17	New York	849	-3%
18	Indiana	846	+3.4%
19	Washington	718	+2.3%
20	Maryland	708	+29.7%
21	Oklahoma	706	+15.5%
22	Colorado	701	+5.7%
23	Kentucky	694	+9.5%
24	Wisconsin	613	+25.9%
25	Mississippi	589	+7.7%
26	Arkansas	520	+4.8%
27	Oregon	486	-2.2%
28	New Jersey	475	+1.5%
29	Nevada	446	+4%
30	Minnesota	410	+8.8%
31	New Mexico	390	+14.7%
32	Utah	367	+8.9%
33	Kansas	330	+0.3%
34	West Virginia	278	-2.8%
35	Idaho	247	+16%
35	Iowa	247	+2.5%
37	Massachusetts	213	-5.8%
38	Montana	205	+19.2%
39	Connecticut	189	+1.1%
40	Alaska	177	+22.1%
41	Nebraska	169	-5.6%
42	Maine	144	+8.3%
43	New Hampshire	121	-0.8%
44	District of Columbia	120	+39.5%
45	Wyoming	113	+21.5%
46	Delaware	112	+9.8%
47	South Dakota	96	+7.9%
48	North Dakota	92	-4.2%
49	Vermont	70	+1.4%
50	Hawaii	55	+37.5%
51	Rhode Island	51	+50%

Other periods

About this ranking

Deaths from firearm injuries of any intent (suicide, homicide, unintentional, legal intervention or undetermined) during the year, by the state of residence of the person who died. NCHS National Vital Statistics System final death data.

Available for US states and DC. Counted from death certificates. The 50 states and DC add up to the national total NCHS publishes (44,447 in 2024).

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, number of deaths. 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, number of deaths (US states by firearm deaths, 2015) [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, number of deaths, US states by firearm deaths, 2015. 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-deaths/us-states?period=2015. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2026. NCHS Stats of the States: firearm mortality by state, number of deaths. US states by firearm deaths, 2015. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/state-stats/deaths/firearms.html. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/firearm-deaths/us-states?period=2015.

Harvard

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2026) NCHS Stats of the States: firearm mortality by state, number of deaths, US states by firearm deaths, 2015 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/state-stats/deaths/firearms.html, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/firearm-deaths/us-states?period=2015 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{centers_us_states_by_firearm_2015,
  author = {{Centers for Disease Control and Prevention}},
  title = {{NCHS Stats of the States: firearm mortality by state, number of deaths: US states by firearm deaths, 2015}},
  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-deaths/us-states?period=2015. Publisher attribution: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). NCHS Stats of the States: firearm mortality by state, number of deaths. 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, number of deaths: US states by firearm deaths, 2015
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-deaths/us-states?period=2015
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/firearm-deaths/us-states?period=2015.
N1  - Publisher attribution: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). NCHS Stats of the States: firearm mortality by state, number of deaths. 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  -

Embed this chart

Paste this code into a web page or a blog post. The chart shows the latest figures as they are published, with the source and a link back to this page.

Embed code

<iframe src="https://invokely.ai/embed/rankings/firearm-deaths/us-states?period=2015" width="760" height="500" title="US states by firearm deaths, 2015, chart from Invokely" loading="lazy" style="border:0;width:100%;max-width:760px" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin"></iframe>

Sites that read oEmbed links, such as WordPress, can show the chart when you paste the link to this page.

Use this data in your AI agent

Invokely serves this figure to AI assistants through MCP and to code through a REST API, with the source and citation attached. Ask your assistant:

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

rank_places {"indicator":"firearm_deaths","level":"region","within":"United States","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=firearm_deaths&level=region&within=United%20States&limit=10

Connect Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor in one step. The trial answers 25 calls a day without an account.

Questions

Which state has the highest firearm deaths?

Texas, with 3,203 in 2015, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Which state has the lowest firearm deaths?

Rhode Island, with 51 in 2015.

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, number of deaths. Retrieved 2026-10-12.