Another measure from County Health Rankings recently updated was suicide rates. This is a moving average for the years 2019-2023. The rates adjust for the population and age distribution in the county to enable comparison of the counties. This post will focus on new suicide rates in Pennsylvania. The map above illustrates counties with higher rates in the state.

The table at the bottom of the post shows suicide rates for the U.S., Pennsylvania, and each of the 67 counties in the state. The state’s overall rate was the same as the U.S. rate at 14%. Of the 42 counties with rates higher than the state rate, 26 of them are in the Alleghenies. Cameron, Forest, and Sullivan counties do not have suicide data.

The error margin in the table below means that we are 95% confident that the actual rate is between those two numbers in the column. It is not always easy to determine whether a death is a suicide. Some car accidents and drug overdoses may really be suicide attempts. Entities with larger populations have smaller error margins.

The breakdown of rates by race/ethnicity are only available for a few of the most populous counties. For the counties with a racial breakdown, there are no discernible patterns so they are not included in the table.

Given these uncertainties, the new suicide rates in Pennsylvania indicate mental health issues in the county. Wyoming, Carbon, and Elk Counties have the 3 highest rates in Pennsylvania.

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County Rates

County	# Deaths from 2019-2023	Estimated County Rate per 100,000 (Age-Adjusted)	Error Margin (Age-Adjusted)	Alleghenies	Rank
U.S.		14
Pennsylvania	9,402	14	14-14
Adams	70	13	10-16		47
Allegheny	843	13	10-16	X	47
Armstrong	66	21	16-27	X	6
Beaver	133	15	12-18	X	36
Bedford	49	19	13-25	X	11
Berks	342	15	14-17		36
Blair	103	17	14-20	X	24
Bradford	49	14	10-19		43
Bucks	447	13	12-14		47
Butler	151	15	12-17	X	36
Cambria	132	20	16-24	X	10
Cameron				X
Carbon	88	26	20-32		2
Centre	100	12	10-15	X	54
Chester	331	12	10-13		54
Clarion	35	18	12-26	X	17
Clearfield	81	21	16-26	X	6
Clinton	26	13	08-20	X	47
Columbia	66	19	14-24		11
Crawford	75	18	14-23	X	17
Cumberland	139	10	8-12		62
Dauphin	203	14	12-16		43
Delaware	361	12	11-13		54
Elk	37	25	17-36	X	3
Erie	232	17	15-19		24
Fayette	140	21	17-25	X	6
Forest				X
Franklin	106	13	10-16	X	47
Fulton	13	19	10-34	X	11
Greene	33	18	12-25	X	17
Huntingdon	42	18	13-25	X	17
Indiana	56	14	10-18	X	43
Jefferson	36	17	11-24	X	24
Juniata	24	19	12-29	X	11
Lackawanna	164	15	12-17		36
Lancaster	318	11	10-12		58
Lawrence	84	18	14-23	X	17
Lebanon	102	13	10-16		47
Lehigh	227	11	10-13		58
Luzerne	315	18	16-20		17
Lycoming	90	15	12-19		36
McKean	36	17	12-24	X	24
Mercer	87	16	13-20	X	32
Mifflin	26	12	7-17	X	54
Monroe	135	15	12-18		36
Montgomery	519	11	10-12		58
Montour	17	18	10-30		17
Northampton	218	13	11-15		47
Northumberland	65	14	11-19		43
Perry	43	16	11-22		32
Philadelphia	883	11	10-12		58
Pike	50	16	12-22		32
Potter	19	23	13-37	X	4
Schuylkill	153	21	18-25		6
Snyder	21	10	6-15		62
Somerset	64	17	13-22	X	24
Sullivan
Susquehanna	37	19	13-27		11
Tioga	34	17	11-24	X	24
Union	23	10	6-15		62
Venango	49	19	13-25	X	11
Warren	35	17	11-25	X	24
Washington	185	17	14-19	X	24
Wayne	64	22	16-28		5
Westmoreland	312	16	14-18	X	32
Wyoming	32	27	18-38		1
York	367	15	13-16		36

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