How many drug overdose deaths happen every year in ?

Updated May. 6, 2026Refreshed annually
There were 9,028 overdose deaths in 2024. That means that for every 100,000 people living in the state, 22.9 died of drug overdose. This was the 4th highest the drug overdose death rate has been in the state since data from 1999 became available.
In 2024

23

per 100,000 people died of overdoses
In 2024

9.03K

people died of overdoses
Unadjusted data about the nation is a useful starting point, but age-adjusted data tells a more complete story. Age-adjusting accounts for differences in age distributions across populations, which is crucial when comparing health outcomes since age is a major risk factor for many conditions. This adjustment enables fairer comparisons of mortality rates between different groups or over time. The rest of the data on this page is age-adjusted.
In 2024, California had a drug overdose death rate lower than the US rate overall, nearly 6% lower. The drug overdose death rate in California increased in 16 of the last 25 years in which data is available. The overdose death rate increased 45% since 2019 and increased 95% since 2014.

In 2024, California had a drug overdose death rate lower than the US rate.

Drug-involved overdose deaths in California, age-adjusted rate per 100,000 people

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What drugs are most commonly involved in drug overdose deaths?

The rise in drug overdose deaths nationally has been due to growing use of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids, however, this may vary by state. In 2024, methamphetamine has been involved in more overdose deaths than any other drug, making up 57% of total overdose deaths in California. The rates of drug overdose deaths involving Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids and Methamphetamine increased 40.0 and 17.6 times, between 1999 and 2024 and 1999 and 2024, respectively.

In 2024, methamphetamine was involved in more overdose deaths than any other drug.

Drug-involved overdose deaths in California, age-adjusted rate per 100,000 people

Drug overdoses

Are fentanyl overdose deaths rising in the US?

Read more about fentanyl and why it is so dangerous.
Read more

How do drug overdose deaths vary by county in California?

Drug overdose death rates can vary across counties. In 2024, the death rate for overdoses in California ranged from 11.3 per 100,000 in Napa County to 91.5 per 100,000 in Lake County.
Occasionally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will mark data as either suppressed or unreliable. Suppression occurs when data does not meet confidentiality requirements. As a result, data may not be available for every county in this state. Age-adjusted data is also not available at the county level. County-level tables reflect the most recent year of available data.

Drug-involved overdose deaths per 100,000 people (2024)

Drug-involved overdose deaths per 100,000 people (2024)
1.

Lake County

91.5
2.

Del Norte County

66.6
3.

San Francisco County

59.6
4.

Lassen County

56.5
5.

Tehama County

55.9
6.

Butte County

54.7
7.

Mendocino County

51.6
8.

Tuolumne County

46.4
9.

Humboldt County

43.1
10.

Glenn County

42.4

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Methodology

USAFacts standardizes data, in areas such as time and demographics, to make it easier to understand and compare.

The analysis was generated with the help of AI and reviewed by USAFacts for accuracy.

Page sources

USAFacts endeavors to share the most up-to-date information available. We sourced the data on this page directly from government agencies; however, the intervals at which agencies publish updated data vary.