Monday, Jan. 13, 2025
Does Colorado have one of the highest suicide rates in the U.S.?
Colorado consistently fell among the 10 states with the highest suicide rates from 2014 to 2022, federal data shows. The state’s highest rate during that period was in 2021, at 22.8 deaths per 100,000 people, the sixth highest in the U.S. In 2022, the rate dropped to 21.1 deaths per 100,000 people, the 10th highest among states.
Colorado saw 1,290 deaths by suicide in 2023, state public health data shows. Of those, over half were inflicted by firearms. Three times more men died by suicide than women, though women are more likely to attempt suicide. The industry with the most suicides was construction.
Other mountain states also face high suicide rates, which experts link to factors including easy access to firearms, lack of access to care, substance abuse, stress and the stigma surrounding mental health disorders.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
- U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Suicide Mortality by state
- Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Suicide in Colorado: Counts, 2004-2023, excludes race/ethnicity
- American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Suicide Data: United States
- Colorado Health Institute Suicide in Colorado
- How can the state improve mental health in agriculture? Rural Colorado’s “cowboy up” culture has led to high suicide rates
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Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by Gigafact contributor publications.
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The Colorado Sun is a journalist-founded, award-winning and nonprofit news outlet based in Denver that strives to cover all of Colorado so that our state — our community — can better understand itself. In this way, we believe we can contribute to a more vibrant, informed and whole Colorado. We are committed to fact-based, in-depth and nonpartisan journalism. We cover everything from politics and culture to the outdoor industry and education. Our goal is to produce the best possible journalism. We do that with the help of you, our readers, and community backers. We launched on Sept. 10, 2018.
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