Health

How many drug overdose deaths happen every year in Kansas?

Data updated July 19, 2024
754 overdose deaths in 2022. That means that for every 100,000 people living in Kansas, 26 died of drug overdose. This was the highest the drug overdose death rate had been in the state since data from 1999 became available.
Showing data for
In 2022,

26

per 100,000 people died of overdoses
In 2022,

754

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 2022, Kansas had a drug overdose death rate lower than the US rate overall, nearly 19% lower. The drug overdose death rate in Kansas increased in 19 of the last 23 years for which data is available. The overdose death rate has increased 2.1 times since 2018 and increased 2.2 times since 2013.

In 2022, Kansas had a drug overdose death rate lower than the US rate.

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

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 2022, fentanyl and other synthetic opioids were involved in more overdose deaths than any other drug, accounting for 56% of total overdose deaths in Kansas. The rates of drug overdose deaths involving fentanyl and methamphetamine had increased 19 and 15 times, respectively, between 2004 and 2022 for fentanyl and 2011 and 2022 for methamphetamine.

In 2022, fentanyl was involved in more overdose deaths than any other drug.

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

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Although drug overdose deaths are on the rise, they affect geographic areas differently. In 2022, the death rate for overdoses in Kansas ranged from 18 per 100,000 in Johnson County to 45 per 100,000 in Sedgwick 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 (2022)

Drug-involved overdose deaths per 100,000 people (2022)

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