A Lantana Recovery data study · 2012 – 2022
A decade of rising deaths, uneven care, and the states paying the price. Explore the full picture, state by state.
01 — The National Story
Age-adjusted alcohol-related mortality in the United States rose steadily through the mid-2010s — then jumped sharply during the pandemic. It has not returned to pre-pandemic levels.
02 — The Map
Toggle between five lenses on the crisis. Hover a state for details. Click to pin.
03 — The Rankings
The ranking updates with whichever metric you pick above. The top five are flagged in coral.
| # | State | Value |
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04 — The Treatment Gap
States with the lowest density of alcohol-use-disorder treatment facilities have seen some of the fastest growth in death rates. Texas sits at one extreme; Wyoming and Maine at the other.
Bubble size = 2022 death rate per 100k. X axis = treatment facilities per 100k (2020). Y axis = % change in death rate 2012–22.
05 — The Price Tag
Excessive alcohol use costs the country tens of billions of dollars every year in lost productivity, healthcare, and criminal justice. Alaska, New Mexico and Wyoming lead on a per-capita basis.
06 — The Movers
Every line is one state. The steepest ascents — Connecticut, Delaware, Mississippi, Maine — are the stories the national average conceals.
Methodology & Sources
Age-adjusted alcohol-related death rates are drawn from CDC WONDER, based on multiple-cause-of-death data. Rates are per 100,000 population and age-adjusted to the 2000 U.S. standard population. Cause-of-death categories include the following ICD-10 codes: X45, X65, Y15, F10, and K70, K73, K74.
Treatment-facility counts come from the 2020 N-SSATS report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Only facilities that treat clients for alcohol-use disorder are included. Facility density is expressed per 100,000 residents using 2022 U.S. Census Bureau state population estimates.
Economic cost figures come from the CDC's Economic Cost of Excessive Alcohol Use data brief and include costs from healthcare, lost productivity, and criminal-justice expenditures.
Data study by Lantana Recovery. Visualization built as a standalone static site — all data, fonts, and libraries are bundled in this package.