hands reaching to help someone with suicidal thoughts
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Summary: Rates of suicidality in California were below national and regional averages in 2022-2023, based on a new report published by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

Key Points:

Between 2014 and 2023 in California:

  • Suicide fatalities were lower than the national average

In 2022-2023 in California:

  • Serious thoughts of suicide were lower than regional and national averages
  • Plans to attempt suicide were lower than regional and national averages
  • Suicide attempts were lower than regional and national averages
  • Suicidality among adolescents and young adults was far more common than suicidality among people age 26+

Suicide in the U.S.: An Ongoing Public Health Crisis

Before COVID arrived in the United States in 2020, two public health crises dominated our attention: the drug overdose as the suicide crisis. Stories about the drug overdose crisis/opioid crisis, which had claimed over a million lives in just over two decades, were in the news on a regular basis. In addition, between 2010 and 2020, suicide became one of the top three leading causes of death for people under 35.

We’ll leave the facts and figures related to the opioid crisis for another article and focus on suicide and suicidality. Data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) illustrate the uncomfortable reality of the suicide crisis. In 2022 in the U.S., suicide was the:

  • Second leading cause of death for people ages 10-14
  • Third leading cause of death for people ages 15-24
  • Second leading cause of death for people ages 25-34

That’s why public health officials, mental health providers, and concerned citizens raised the alarm: suicide itself is always a tragedy, and suicide among middle school children is a difficult concept for anyone to understand.

That’s also why we’re checking in on the current state of suicidality in California. We want to know if the robust public response to the suicide crisis – which was somewhat eclipsed/subsumed by COVID and the significant public turbulence that followed – had any impact on suicide fatalities and suicidality.

What’s the Difference Between Suicidality and Suicide?

Suicidality is a general term that refers to any of the following three types of behavior:

  1. Thinking or talking about suicide
  2. Planning a suicide attempt
  3. Attempting suicide

Suicide itself is defined as:

“Death caused by self-directed injurious behavior with intent to die as a result of the behavior.”

With those essential terms defined, we’re ready to connect figures to the key points we list in our summary above.

Suicidality in California: Facts and Figures

We’ll start by comparing rates of suicide in California and the U.S., based on data collected by the CDC between 2014 and 2023.

Suicide Fatalities Per 100,000, California Compared to U.S., 2014-2023

2014:

  • California: 10.27
  • USA: 13.0

2018:

  • California: 10.86
  • USA: 13.2

2021:

  • California: 10.14
  • S.: 14.1

2022:

  • California: 10.4
  • S.: 14.2

2023:

  • California: 10.16
  • USA: 14.1

This data shows rates of suicide fatality in California consistently 3.3-3.7 per 100,000 below the national rate per 100,000. While rates in the rest of the country increased and decreased, overall, rates in California, in contrast, decreased in this time period.

Now let’s turn our focus to thinking about, talking about, or planning to attempt suicide. The facts and figures in the three sets of data to follow are publicly available in the report “2022-2023 NSDUH: Model-Based Estimated Prevalence for States.”

In these sets, we’ll compare percentages rather than rates per 100,000. We’ll compare percentages of suicidality in California with percentages for the entire U.S. and the Western U.S., which includes Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

Had Serious Thoughts of Suicide in the Past Year 2022-2023

  • U.S.:
    • Total 18+: 5.0
    • 12-17: 12.9%
    • 18-25: 13%
    • 26+: 3.8%
  • California:
    • Total 18+: 4.59%
    • 12-17: 12.39%
    • 18-25: 12.29%
    • 26+: 3.40%
  • Western U.S.:
    • Total 18+: 5.28%
    • 12-17: 12.89%
    • 18-25: 14.02%
    • 26+: 3.9%

Here we see Californians reporting serious thoughts of suicide slightly below the national average and the average for the Western U.S. Next, we’ll share rates of suicide plans for the same categories: the U.S., California, and the Western U.S.

Made Any Suicide Plans in the Past Year 2022-2023

  • U.S.:
    • Total 18+: 1.45%
    • 12-17: 6.07%
    • 18-25: 4.58%
    • 26+: 0.97%
  • California:
    • Total 18+: 1.15%
    • 12-17: 5.93%
    • 18-25: 4.15%
    • 26+: 1.38%
  • Western U.S.:
    • Total 18+: 1.46%
    • 12-17: 6.05%
    • 18-25: 4.54%
    • 26+: 0.98%

Here we see a similar pattern with regard to suicidality in California, but with an exception. Among adults over age 26, a greater percentage of Calfornians made suicide plans than the percentage of people in the U.S. overall, and a greater percentage of Californians made suicide plans than the percentage of people in the Western U.S.

There’s also a serious red flag in these figures, which we’ll point out below –

if you haven’t noticed it yet.

Now let’s look at suicide attempts, in the same location and age group categories.

Attempted Suicide in the Past Year 2022-2023

  • U.S.:
    • Total 18+: 0.6%
    • 12-17: 3.52%
    • 18-25: 2.04%
    • 26+: 0.38%
  • California:
    • Total 18+: 0.43%
    • 12-17: 3.28%
    • 18-25: 1.73%
    • 26+: 0.23%
  • Western U.S.:
    • Total 18+: 0.52%
    • 12-17: 3.61%
    • 18-25: 1.94%
    • 26+: 0.30%

Here again we see rates in California consistently below rates in the entire U.S., and below rates for the Western states. In the context of this topic, this data, viewed as a whole, shows that Californians are holding steady: rates of suicide are neither increasing or decreasing at rates we see around the country, and in neighboring states.

But did you see the red flag?

Suicide Among People 12-25: A National Crisis, A California Crisis

In the three sets of data above, the rates of suicidality for people in two age groups – 12-17 and 18-25 – are, on average, around 150 percent greater than rates of suicidality for all adults over age 18, and around 100-130 percent greater than adults over age 26.

When public health officials say there’s a suicide crisis among young people, that’s exactly what they mean. Raising awareness is a key component of reversing this trend in suicidality among young people. We’ll share the latest National Strategy for Suicide Prevention in a forthcoming article. In the meantime, it’s critical for people to understand this fact:

Suicide is preventable.

To learn about treatment approaches that can help reduce suicidality, please read this article on our blog:

Can Psychotherapy Help Reduce Suicide Risk?

That article can give you an idea how seeking professional support can help you manage suicidal thoughts and behaviors, restore balance, and rebuild hope for the future.

Resources: Finding Support for Suicidality in California

If you or someone you care about is at risk of suicide, please get help immediately:

  • If risk of harm is imminent, call 911 now.
  • If risk of harm is serious but not imminent, call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988.
  • 988 connects people in crisis to trained professionals who can assess needs and connect you to local support.
  • The Trevor Project (designed for LGBTQIA+ Youth and Teens)
    • Phone (24/7/365): 1-866-488-7386
    • Trevor Project Text (24/7/365): Text START to 678678
    • The Trevor Project Chat: CLICK HERE