STATE SUICIDE DATA PROFILE
Kentucky
Mortality, community conditions, access to care, and the limits of what these numbers can tell us.
Suicide in Kentucky
What the latest reviewed data tells us
Kentucky’s suicide rate was 31% higher than the national rate of 13.7.
Source: CDC / NCHS · CDC WISQARS Fatal Injury Reports / NCHS Stats of the States · 2024
HOW THE RATE HAS CHANGED
Suicide mortality over time
Age-adjusted rates allow more meaningful comparisons across places with different age structures.
View chart as a table
| Year | Kentucky | United States |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 16.0 | 13.0 |
| 2015 | 17.1 | 13.3 |
| 2016 | 16.8 | 13.5 |
| 2017 | 16.9 | 14.0 |
| 2018 | 17.5 | 14.2 |
| 2019 | 16.5 | 13.9 |
| 2020 | 17.7 | 13.5 |
| 2021 | 17.9 | 14.1 |
| 2022 | 18.0 | 14.2 |
| 2023 | 17.5 | 14.1 |
| 2024 | 17.9 | 13.7 |
One-year rate change
2.3% 2024Five-year rate change
8.5% 2024Ten-year rate change
11.9% 2024Five-year trend slope
0 2024Trend direction
Not available This indicator is not included in the current release.WHO IS BEING AFFECTED
The statewide rate is not evenly distributed
Subgroup rates use source-defined categories. Suppressed values remain visibly unreported rather than being turned into zero.
Age
Crude death rate per 100,000
Source: KFF data presentation / CDC NCHS underlying source · Suicide Rate by Age · 2024
Sex
Age-adjusted death rate per 100,000
Source: KFF data presentation / CDC NCHS underlying source · Suicide Rate by Sex · 2024
Race and ethnicity
Age-adjusted death rate per 100,000
Source: KFF data presentation / CDC NCHS underlying source · Suicide Rate by Race and Ethnicity · 2024
Method
Age-adjusted death rate per 100,000
Source: KFF data presentation / CDC NCHS underlying source · Suicide Rate by Method · 2024
Highest published age-group rate
Not available This indicator is not included in the current release.Male-to-female rate ratio
4.26× 2024Highest published race/ethnicity rate
Not available This indicator is not included in the current release.Firearm share of suicide deaths
67.8% 2024Demographic data availability
Not available This indicator is not included in the current release.COMMUNITY CONDITIONS
Economic and practical context
These indicators can reveal pressures and resource gaps. Their presence alongside a suicide trend does not prove causation.
Poverty
15.6%People below the official threshold · 2024 Published margin of error: ±0.5About this number
Percentage of people whose income in the past 12 months is below the official poverty threshold.
ACS estimate with margin of error; thresholds do not adjust for Alaska's local cost of living.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau · 2024 American Community Survey 1-Year Ranking Tables · 2024
Disability
18.2%People reporting a disability · 2024 Published margin of error: ±0.3About this number
Percentage of the civilian noninstitutionalized population reporting one or more disabilities under ACS definitions.
ACS disability categories and universe should be displayed; this is not a measure of service need by itself.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau · 2024 American Community Survey 1-Year Ranking Tables · 2024
Household income
$64,526Median annual household income · 2024 Published margin of error: ±1,165.0About this number
Median household income in inflation-adjusted dollars under ACS definitions.
ACS estimate with margin of error; local figures use a pooled five-year period.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau · 2024 American Community Survey 1-Year Ranking Tables · 2024
Labor-force participation
72.6%Civilian population age 16 and older · 2024 Published margin of error: ±0.5About this number
Percentage of the civilian noninstitutionalized population in the labor force.
ACS annual survey estimate; use ACS 5-year for small geographies and store margin of error.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau · 2024 American Community Survey 1-Year Ranking Tables · 2024
Median gross rent
$998/moMonthly renter housing cost · 2024 Published margin of error: ±19.0About this number
Median monthly gross rent for renter-occupied housing units.
ACS estimate with margin of error and does not measure availability of affordable units.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau · 2024 American Community Survey 1-Year Ranking Tables · 2024
Renter cost burden
40.2%Households spending at least 30% of income · 2024 Published margin of error: ±1.2About this number
Percentage of renter-occupied households paying at least 30 percent of household income toward gross rent.
ACS estimate with margin of error; excludes households for which burden cannot be computed.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau · 2024 American Community Survey 1-Year Ranking Tables · 2024
Uninsured
6.8%People without health insurance · 2024 Published margin of error: ±0.3About this number
Percentage of the civilian noninstitutionalized population without health-insurance coverage.
ACS survey estimate; store margin of error and universe. Local values use pooled ACS 5-year data.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau · 2024 American Community Survey 1-Year Ranking Tables · 2024
Broadband subscription
90.9%Households reporting a subscription · 2024 Published margin of error: ±0.4About this number
Percentage of households with a broadband internet subscription under ACS definitions.
Subscription does not measure speed, reliability, affordability, or privacy for telehealth.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau · 2024 American Community Survey 1-Year Ranking Tables · 2024
CARE AND CRISIS RESPONSE
What the available systems report
Administrative designations and service contacts describe system reach and use. They are not counts of people who attempted suicide.
Mental-health shortage designation
DesignatedFederal HPSA designation status · As of Jun 30, 2026About this number
Whether the geography or population is covered by a designated Mental Health Professional Shortage Area.
HPSA designation identifies provider shortage under federal criteria; it is not a complete measure of care availability.
Source: Health Resources and Services Administration · Designated HPSA Quarterly Summary · As of Jun 30, 2026
HPSA designations
222Geographic, population, and facility designations · As of Jun 30, 2026About this number
Number of active mental-health Health Professional Shortage Area designations reported for the state, including geographic, population-group, and facility designations.
A state can have overlapping geographic, population-group, and facility designations.
Source: Health Resources and Services Administration · Designated HPSA Quarterly Summary · As of Jun 30, 2026
Population reported in HPSAs
2,908,312People associated with shortage designations · As of Jun 30, 2026About this number
Population total printed in HRSA's state HPSA summary before Project Semicolon deduplication of overlapping designations.
This reported aggregate can exceed the state's resident population because designations overlap and include facility populations.
Source: Health Resources and Services Administration · Designated HPSA Quarterly Summary · As of Jun 30, 2026
Mental-health need met
19.3%HRSA shortage methodology · As of Jun 30, 2026About this number
HRSA's reported percentage of mental-health provider need met across designated HPSAs in the state.
This is an administrative shortage measure, not the percentage of residents who can obtain care.
Source: Health Resources and Services Administration · Designated HPSA Quarterly Summary · As of Jun 30, 2026
Practitioners needed
159Estimated to remove current designations · As of Jun 30, 2026About this number
Number of additional practitioners HRSA reports as needed to remove current mental-health HPSA designations.
The calculation reflects federal HPSA rules and may emphasize psychiatrists rather than every type of behavioral-health provider.
Source: Health Resources and Services Administration · Designated HPSA Quarterly Summary · As of Jun 30, 2026
988-routed calls
4,238Calls routed to the state local-center system · 2025About this number
Number of voice calls offered to or received by the 988 Lifeline network for Alaska under the monthly-report definition.
Contacts are not unique people and are not all suicide-related.
Source: 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline / Vibrant Emotional Health / SAMHSA · 988 In-State KPI Report · 2025
988 in-state answer rate
91%Share answered by the state local-center system · 2025About this number
Percentage of Alaska 988 contacts answered by an in-state crisis center under the official report definition.
In-state routing is a system-performance measure, not a measure of outcome quality.
Source: 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline / Vibrant Emotional Health / SAMHSA · 988 In-State KPI Report · 2025
988 average speed to answer
22.8 secMonthly local-center operating measure · 2025About this number
Average elapsed time from eligible contact initiation to answer under the official report definition.
Averages can conceal long waits; distributions are preferable if available.
Source: 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline / Vibrant Emotional Health / SAMHSA · 988 In-State KPI Report · 2025
USE THE DATA RESPONSIBLY
What this profile can and cannot tell us
See trends, identify groups and regions that warrant attention, understand access gaps, and ask better prevention-planning questions.
That one economic condition, disaster, policy, or service gap caused a person’s death or a change in the statewide rate.
Local knowledge, lived experience, service inventories, qualitative research, and evidence-supported prevention strategies.
METHODS AND SOURCES
How to read this profile
Every displayed observation retains its period, evidence class, source release, and public caveat.
Registered deaths, contacts, encounters, and administrative designations. These may still have reporting delays or coverage limits.
Weighted or modeled values represent estimates, not complete counts of every person in the geography.
Calculated comparisons and classifications retain their source observations and are labeled separately from source-direct values.
Primary sources used in this profile
CDC NCHS Stats of the States, 2024 final; page updated March 2, 2026
Open sourceCDC WONDER UCD 1999-2024; KFF normalized state table accessed 2026-07-15
Open sourceCDC WONDER Underlying Cause of Death, 2024 final; KFF State Health Facts normalized table
Open sourceCDC WONDER Underlying Cause of Death, 2024 final; KFF State Health Facts normalized table
Open sourceCDC WONDER Underlying Cause of Death, 2024 final; KFF State Health Facts normalized table
Open sourceCDC WONDER Underlying Cause of Death, 2024 final; KFF State Health Facts normalized table
Open source2024 American Community Survey 1-Year Ranking Tables
Open sourceDesignated HPSA Quarterly Summary, as of June 30, 2026; data as of July 1, 2026
Open source988 In-State KPI Report, December 2025
Open sourceCHR&R Supplemental Analytic Dataset, March 25, 2026; Measure 62; 2025
Open sourceSuppression, periods, and comparison rules
- Suppressed and unavailable values are never displayed as zero.
- Five-year pooled mortality and survey estimates remain labeled with their periods.
- Age-adjusted rates are used for place-to-place mortality comparisons.
- Margins of error and confidence intervals remain visible where supplied.
- Contextual indicators describe conditions; they do not prove causes.