Depression affects about one in five people in the United States. Young adults and women are more likely than older adults to show signs of depression.
According to the most current survey data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System, a median of about 21% of the U.S. adult population in 2021 had ever been told they had a form of depression. Since 2011, when comparable data started being gathered, that’s the highest percentage.
Depression by State Lines (Raw HTML)
Based on age-adjusted prevalence estimates from survey answers in 2021, West Virginia (29%) is the most depressed state, followed by Kentucky (27.6%) and Vermont (26.6%). Between 2020 and 2021, more people in most states had ever had depression. This was especially true in Idaho (+4.2 percentage points), Alaska (+4.0 percentage points), Michigan (+3.5 percentage points), and Oregon (+3.5 percentage points).
These are the depressed states in the United States:
- West Virginia (29%)
- Kentucky (27.6%)
- Vermont (26.6%)
- Tennessee (26%)
- Arkansas (25.4%)
- Oregon (25.3%) (tie)
- Maine (25.3%) (tie)
- Louisiana (25.1%) (tie)
- New Hampshire (25.1%) (tie)
- Indiana (25.0%) (tie)
- Oklahoma (25.0%) (tie)
Hawaii (11.4%), California (15.3%), Maryland (17.2%), and South Dakota (17.2%) are the states with the least amount of people who are sad. Only six states saw the number of people who had ever had depression go down from 2020 to 2021. Hawaii (-1.5), South Carolina (-1.3), and Pennsylvania (-1.3) saw the biggest drops.
Raw HTML: Map: State by State Depression
Depression can be measured in many ways, from the signs a person notices on their own to an official diagnosis. As part of its 2023 Best States rankings, U.S. News looked at how many people in each state said they had bad mental health on at least 14 of the last 30 days. This showed which states had the best and worst mental health. The mental health metric is one of six that go into a ranking of the best states for public health. This ranking informs rankings of the best states for health care and the total Best States rankings.
The CDC looked at data from 2019 and found that depression symptoms were most common in people aged 18 to 29. Women were more likely than men to have symptoms.
Separate data from 2021, when the U.S. was in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, showed that almost 60% of female high school students had felt sad or lost for most of the past year. Many people’s depression and worry have gotten worse because of the pandemic. Research also shows that depression is a symptom of long COVID, and people are at a high risk of getting symptoms even a year after getting a coronavirus infection.
America is one of the most nervous, anxious, and addicted countries in the world. It is also one of the most depressed countries. As of 2019, the Global Burden of Disease study said that the U.S. was number one for drug abuse disorders, number 15 for anxiety disorders, and number 29 for depression.
As part of national efforts to help people with mental health problems in the U.S., both Democrats and Republicans worked together to start the 988 helpline, which apparently got over 2 million calls, texts, or messages in the first six months after it opened last summer.
Please call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org if you or someone you know is having trouble or is in a crisis. People who are worried about their mental health can also go to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to learn more about signs and how to treat them.
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