Research Alert: May 7, 2025

Rural and Urban Differences in Suicide in the United States, 2018-2021

Suicide remains a leading cause of death in the United States. This policy brief examines state-level differences in crude suicide rates by demographics and geography, focusing on rural and urban areas from 2018 to 2021. National data from the National Vital Statistics System and the American Community Survey were used to explore trends across urban and rural areas.

Key Takeaways:

• Crude suicide rates have remained around 14.5 per 100,000 from 2018-2021, with rural areas consistently higher than urban areas overall and across all subgroups of interest.
• Males have higher crude suicide rates compared to females (23.2 vs. 6.0 per 100,000).
• Groups aged 25-34 and 45-54 in rural areas have the highest crude suicide rates (28.8 and 25.3 per 100,000, respectively).
• Western states generally report higher crude suicide rates than other Census regions, while Northeastern and Southern states have lower rates in both urban and rural areas.

Additional Resources of Interest:

• More FORHP-funded research on Mental and behavioral health
• More information about the ETSU/NORC Rural Health Research Center
• More information from the Rural Health Information Hub's topic guide: Farmer Mental Health and Suicide Prevention