Does Nevada have the highest suicide rate in the country?
Nevada has an above-average suicide rate, but it is not the highest in the country.
The state had the 15th highest death-by-suicide rate nationally in 2020, according to data from the National Center for Health Statistics, with 603 deaths by suicide occurring in that year. That’s a rate of 18.2 suicide deaths per 100,000 residents. Suicide is the 9th leading cause of death in Nevada.
The state with the highest death-by-suicide rate in 2020 was Wyoming, with a total of 182 deaths at a rate of 30.5 per 100,000. Other states with high rates of suicide included Alaska (27.5 per 100,000), Montana (26.1 per 100,000), New Mexico (24.2 per 100,000) and Idaho (23.2 per 100,000).
Environmental risk factors for suicide include social isolation, lack of access to healthcare, stigma associated with help-seeking and mental illness and easy access to lethal means of suicide among people at risk, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.