Gun deaths by state, ranked
It's a hard fact: America's gun deaths are at a 20-year high. Per data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in May 2022, firearm homicide rates grew nearly 35% from 2019 to 2020, with disparities by race, ethnicity and poverty level widening. Firearm suicide rates also remained high.
This year is also seeing a rise in school shootings. In 2020, the year of pandemic shutdowns, there were 10; 2021 saw 34. And the first five months of 2022 already witnessed 27, including the horrific massacre in Uvalde, Texas, according to Education Week, which has tracked school shootings since 2018.
So which states suffered the highest gun death rates in the latest CDC data from 2020? Here's the ranking.
50. Hawaii
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 3.4
In this photo, a security guard walks past a naval emergency ambulance responding to a fatal shooting at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, in Honolulu, Hawaii, on December 4, 2019.
49. Massachusetts
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 3.7
Community members sign sneakers owned by Xavier Louis-Jacques, 19, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, during a vigil following his 2021 shooting death.
48. New Jersey
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 5
Gun violence victim Lisa James gathers with friends and relatives of Avent Holston, who was shot and killed at age 27 on October 28, 2019, to commemorate the second anniversary of his death outside Newark Vocational School.
47. Rhode Island
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 5.1
Armed police stand in Westerly, Rhode Island, where multiple people were shot earlier in the morning on Dec. 19, 2019.
46. New York
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 5.3
Richard Berrios observes a memorial for the shooting victims outside of Tops market on May 20, 2022 in Buffalo, New York. Ten people were killed in what officials called a white supremacist attack.
45. Connecticut
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 6
Roses with the faces of the students and adults killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School are seen on a pole in Newtown, Connecticut, on January 3, 2013.
44. California
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 8.5
Reyna Nativi De Cortez, mother of 29-year-old murder victim Jason Cortez, and her husband, Candelario Cortez, visit a memorial near the Los Angeles location where Jason Cortez was killed by a single gunshot from a long rifle.
42. (TIE) Minnesota
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 8.9
Philonise Floyd, George Floyd's brother, holds an image of Daunte Wright outside the trial of former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter on December 8, 2021, in Minneapolis.
Wright, 20, was shot and killed during a traffic stop by Potter, who reportedly confused her handgun for her taser. Potter was convicted of manslaughter.
42 (TIE). New Hampshire
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 8.9
A message board across the street from town hall in Troy, New Hampshire, on January 13, 2021. Town hall was closed due to threats to local officials after the police chief attended the January 6 Trump rally in Washington, D.C.
41. Nebraska
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 10.1
Officer Brandy Valdez, 35, works a Saturday night shift in Bellevue, Nebraska, in 2020.
40. Maine
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 10.4
Members of the Portland police department transfer debris from a lawn bag on Tuesday, April 26, 2022, near where a man was killed and a woman injured in a shooting.
39. Washington
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 10.9
Medical personnel check for exit wounds of a multiple-gunshot victim in an emergency room on March 9, 2022 in Seattle, Washington.
38. Iowa
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 11.2
A police cruiser covered in flowers, letters and cards is shown outside the police department on November 2, 2016 in Urbandale, Iowa.
Mourners gathered for fallen Urbandale officer Justin Martin, who was killed in what authorities called an ambush shooting.
37. Vermont
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 11.6
Here: A close-up of the bike bag on a police officer's bicycle, decorated with miniature American flags for the annual Fourth of July Independence Day parade, Williston, Vermont.
36. Wisconsin
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 12.2
In this photo, Kyle Rittenhouse becomes emotional describing events leading up to his shooting of Joseph Rosenbaum during his 2021 trial in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Rittenhouse shot three demonstrators, killing two of them, but was acquitted of all charges.
35. Oregon
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 13
Police investigate a shooting that took place during a protest over the death of Amir Locke on February 19, 2022 in Portland, Oregon.
Locke was shot and killed by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota during a no-knock raid earlier that month.
34. Virginia
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 13.4
A girl leaves flowers at a makeshift memorial outside of the crime scene at the Virginia Beach Municipal Center June 1, 2019 in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Officials said 11 city employees and one private contractor were killed during a shooting rampage along with the suspected shooter, city engineer DeWayne Craddock.
33. Maryland
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 13.5
An open casket holds the body of Eric Copper at Heritage Cemetery on November 5, 2021 in Waldorf, Maryland.
The Heritage is an affordable cemetery that helps families who lose members from gun-related deaths.
30 (TIE). Pennsylvania
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 13.6
Local teenagers hold up pictures of people killed by guns as they participate in a "Die In" to draw attention to gun violence on April 14, 2022 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
30 (TIE). South Dakota
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 13.6
A pink rifle with the inscription "My First Rifle" sits in a gun store in Pierre, South Dakota, in 2015. The 22-calibre weapon is specially designed for young children and is permitted to be sold in several states.
30 (TIE). Utah
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 13.6
Garrett Casutt, purchasing manager for Citizen Armor, shows spent bullet rounds that were stopped by their bulletproof panels, which slip into backpacks and briefcases for protection, on August 23, 2019 in Provo, Utah.
29. Florida
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 13.7
Rep. Val Demings of Florida, right, and former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona walk past vases of flowers as they visit a gun-violence memorial in Bayfront Park on December 13, 2021 in Miami. Giffords nearly died after being shot in the head in 2011.
28. North Dakota
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 13.8
Three Affiliated Tribes Police Sgt. Dawn White burns sweetgrass in her squad car before starting her shift on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in New Town, North Dakota, in 2014.
27. Illinois
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 14.1
A gun sits on the ground at the scene where a 19-year-old man was shot on June 3, 2021, in Chicago. The city has seen a rise in shootings with multiple victims.
26. Texas
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 14.2
A Texas highway patrol officer takes flowers from a resident to be placed at a makeshift memorial outside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on May 25, 2022.
25. Delaware
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 14.4
Thousands gather, including Matthew Groum, Aster Zeleke, Edan Groum and Yeshi Zeleke, from Wilmington, Delaware, to participate in the youth-led March for Our Lives demonstration against gun violence in Washington, D.C. in 2018.
24. Michigan
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 14.6
Protesters march against police brutality near Detroit's west side, where 20-year-old Hakeem Littleton was shot and killed by Detroit Police earlier in the day, July 10, 2020.
23. Ohio
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 15.2
Prynce Brunner, 4, stands with a picture of his mother, Mia LeÃann Shane, clipped to his shirt during a rally against violence organized by Mothers of Murdered Columbus Children.
Shane was a victim of gun violence in early September 2020, a year with a significant uptick in violent crime in Columbus.
22. Colorado
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 15.4
A sign calling for the ban of assault rifles hangs from the perimeter fence outside a King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, Colorado on March 24, 2021, to honor the 10 people killed during a mass shooting.
21. North Carolina
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 16
Police officers cordon an area after U.S. Marshals shot and killed a man who was a suspect at a gas station in Charlotte, North Carolina, on March 23, 2021.
20. Arizona
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 16.7
People pay their respects at a memorial for the victims of a shooting in Tucson in 2011. Six people were killed and 12 injured, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the head as she held an open meeting with local residents.
19. Kansas
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 16.9
Members of the greater Kansas City community participate in a Peace March for the victims of the Austins Bar shooting on February 26, 2017 in Olathe, Kansas.
18. Nevada
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 17
Robert Walker says a prayer at the scene of a memorial for the victims of a mass shooting on October 4, 2017 in Las Vegas. Fifty-eight people were killed.
17. Indiana
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 17.3
Members of law enforcement secure the scene of a vehicle pursued after a 2022 nightclub shooting.
16. Idaho
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 17.6
Police collect evidence in a parking lot near Boise Towne Square where there was a shooting on October 25, 2021.
15. Georgia
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 17.7
Yalaba Mendoza visits the site of two Atlanta spas to mourn the eight people killed in shootings at three Atlanta-area spas on March 17, 2021.
14. West Virginia
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 18.1
Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, walks though the U.S. Capitol May 26, 2022. Democratic and Republican senators were grasping for some common ground on gun laws and school safety after the massacre of 19 students and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas.
13. Kentucky
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 20.1
Louisville Metro Police cruisers are seen surrounding a crime scene involving a shooting injury on September 1, 2021.
12. Oklahoma
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 20.7
A woman identified as a family friend talks to a police officer after a shooting in a Walmart parking lot on November 18, 2019 in Duncan, Oklahoma.
11. Montana
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 20.9
An active shooter drill is performed by the Livingston Police Department, the Park County Sheriff's Office, and Livingston Fire Department EMS at Park High School on April 27, 2018 in Livingston, Montana.
10. Tennessee
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 21.3
Crime-scene tape is seen outside of a Kroger grocery store where a shooting occurred on September 23, 2021 in Collierville, Tennessee.
9. South Carolina
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 22
Roses are placed on the casket of Ethel Lance, 70, who was one of nine victims of a 2015 mass shooting at the Emanuel AME Church, in Charleston, South Carolina.
8. Arkansas
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 22.6
Little Rock Police Lt. Troy Ellison looks at his father Eugene Ellison's gravestone at the Arkansas State Veterans Cemetery in North Little Rock on March 7, 2016. The senior Ellison was shot and killed by an officer after scuffling with police who entered his apartment.
7. New Mexico
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 22.7
A bouquet of flowers is hung on a barbed wire fence near Bonanza Creek Ranch, where actor Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun on a movie set that discharged a live round, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, in October 2021.
6. Alaska
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 23.5
Mark Anthony De Simone, 53, is shown in Juneau District Court for his arraignment on Tuesday, May 17, 2016. The former Arizona state legislator was later found guilty of murder in the shooting death of a man in a hunting party near Alaska's capital city.
5. Alabama
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 23.6
This photo, provided by Lauderdale County Sheriff's Office in April 2022, shows former correctional officer Vicky White. Authorities say she apparently shot herself in the head as police closed in after a weeklong manhunt in which she allegedly aided the escape of a murder suspect.
4. Missouri
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 23.9
Crime scene investigators bag evidence at a scene where a man was killed by a St. Louis police officer after shooting another officer in the leg on June 5, 2019.
3. Wyoming
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 25.9
This video footage, released in July 2021, documents an officer-involved shooting that took place on May 6, 2021, in Casper, Wyoming.
2. Louisiana
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 26.3
Two women sit on a curb near crime-scene tape in Metairie, Louisiana, on February 20, 2021. According to reports, three people were killed and two injured after an altercation lead to gunfire at a nearby indoor shooting range.
1. Mississippi
Number of deaths per 100,000 total population: 28.6
A police officer hugs a mourner outside a memorial service honoring slain police officers Benjamin Deen and Liquori Tate in 2015 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
The officers were shot to death in what started as a routine traffic stop.