For anyone comparing addiction treatment options, that split is the part of the federal data worth your attention, because the national average describes a country nobody actually lives in.
Provisional data released by the CDC on May 13 put overdose deaths at roughly 70,000 for 2025, the third consecutive annual decline and the lowest reported figure since October 2019. The American Journal of Managed Care summarized the release on May 14.
Where Deaths Rose
Arizona and New Mexico moved sharply in the wrong direction. Arizona was up 17.31% and New Mexico up 21.30%.
Five more states reported increases, including Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Colorado. The American Journal of Managed Care described the states with significant increases as areas that may need more federal attention.
Where They Fell Most
Nearly every other state recorded a significant decrease. The steepest were Oregon, down 35.38%, North Carolina, down 34.03%, New York, down 32.13%, and Alabama, down 28.23%.
The reductions appeared across drug categories, including methamphetamine, cocaine and fentanyl. Puerto Rico, which is reported separately and excluded from the US total, recorded 452 overdose deaths, also down from the prior year.
What the National Number Hides
The gap between Oregon and New Mexico is close to 57 percentage points. Both figures came out of the same release.
That spread is why a single national percentage is a poor tool for anyone making a decision about care. Treatment capacity, waitlists, what the local drug supply contains, and how much naloxone is circulating are all state and county questions.
Rehab.com’s addiction statistics report tracks this at the state level, aggregating federal and state data on overdoses, rehab admissions, narcotics violations, and illicit drug use into a per-state picture that is updated as new figures land. If you want to know what the trend looks like where you are rather than nationally, start there.
Why Provisional Data Needs Care
These are provisional counts drawn from death records held by the National Center for Health Statistics, with a cutoff on the first Sunday of each month. The CDC revises them as more records arrive.
The 2025 mortality file closes in August, and final data will confirm whether these state patterns hold. Treat any single month’s figure as a snapshot rather than a verdict.
The source reporting also points to several possible contributors to the national decline without ranking them, including FDA approval of over-the-counter naloxone in 2023, expanded treatment access, changes in how people use drugs, and fewer teenagers starting.
Separately, SAMHSA guidance issued in April 2026 told federal grant recipients they could no longer spend that funding on drug-checking test strips and kits. What effect that has on future numbers is not yet known.
What This Means for Treatment Seekers
If you live in one of the seven states where deaths rose, the national trend is not your trend, and local availability is the thing to verify rather than assume.
Falling deaths also do not mean addiction treatment got easier to find or afford anywhere. Fewer fatal outcomes is not the same as expanded capacity.
Demand for detox beds, medication-assisted treatment, and residential care remains high across much of the country, and addiction treatment capacity has not grown to match the attention the decline has attracted.
Finding the Right Rehab
A few questions make comparing programs faster. Ask whether a facility offers medication-assisted treatment, which pairs FDA-approved medications such as buprenorphine or methadone with counseling.
Ask which insurance plans it accepts and what you would owe out of pocket. Ask about accreditation, current wait times, and how it handles the move from detox into ongoing care.
Rehab.com’s directory lets you compare verified treatment centers by location, level of care, insurance accepted, and Rehab Score. Call
800-985-8516
( 
Sponsored Helpline )
to get connected with a treatment advisor today.
