Violent Deaths in the U.S., 2020: Suicides, Homicides and Their Circumstances (NVDRS)

About 71,000 people in the United States died from violence-related injuries in 2020. CDC's National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) goes beyond the death certificate: it combines death certificates, coroner and medical examiner records and law enforcement reports to show who died, how, where and — as far as the records reveal — why. It also links related deaths, such as multiple homicides or a homicide followed by the suspect's suicide, into a single incident.

For 2020, NVDRS covered 46 states statewide, 35 California counties (71% of that state's population), four Texas counties (39% of it), the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico — everywhere but Florida and Hawaii. The 48 states and D.C. held 84.0% of the U.S. population and 84.7% of its violent deaths, but the data aren't nationally representative.

States and jurisdictions in NVDRS, by the year each began collecting data. Image from CDC's report

66,017 deaths

In the 48 states and D.C.: 64,388 incidents, 66,017 deaths.

"Legal intervention" deaths are those caused by law enforcement or others with legal authority to use deadly force, acting in the line of duty — not legal executions. The term comes from the ICD-10 classification and says nothing about whether a death was lawful.

Suicide

White people accounted for 78.4% of suicides. Among women, rates peaked at ages 45–54 (8.5).

Method. A firearm was used in 51.6% of suicides, then hanging, strangulation or suffocation (27.2%) and poisoning (11.1%). Firearms were the most common method for both men (56.7%) and women (31.9%). Most suicides — 71.5% — happened at a house or apartment.

Circumstances, where known (83.9% of suicides):

Women who died by suicide were more likely than men to have a diagnosed mental health problem (63.0% vs 43.8%) and to be in treatment (36.3% vs 20.9%).

Homicide

• Men aged 20–24 had a rate of 30.8 per 100,000 — six times women of that age. Among children, infants had the highest rate (6.9).
• Black people were 58.0% of all homicide victims. Black males had the highest rate of any group, 57.6 — 14.8 times White males. Among women, Black (8.2) and AI/AN (6.4) women had the highest rates.
• Firearms were used in 76.7% of homicides — 80.1% of male and 61.9% of female victims.
• Women were more often killed at home (59.9%, vs 36.6% of men); men more often on a street or highway (25.0% vs 10.4%).

Who and why. Where the relationship was known, male victims were most often killed by an acquaintance or friend (30.9%); female victims, in half of cases, by a current or former intimate partner. Intimate partner violence preceded 41.3% of female homicides but 7.9% of male ones. Overall, where circumstances were known, homicides most often followed an argument or conflict (33.9%) or another crime (22.9%), usually an assault or robbery.

Other violent deaths

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico's 790 violent deaths were analyzed separately. There, homicide led: 550 deaths (69.6%), a rate of 16.8 per 100,000 — against 210 suicides (7.0). The male homicide rate was 11.5 times the female rate, reaching 79.8 among men aged 18–29, and 88.9% of homicides involved a firearm. Male victims, where the relationship was known, were often killed by a rival gang member (30.5%); female victims most often by an intimate partner (38.9%).

Using the data

Violence is preventable. States use their data to act:

• Oregon built a public firearm mortality dashboard for its gun safety campaign.
• Colorado studied suicide among first responders (firefighters, EMS, police) and last responders (coroners, death investigators, medical examiners, morticians).
• Kentucky examined how the COVID-19 pandemic's psychological and social effects could raise suicide risk.
• Illinois linked state budget cuts to rising youth homicides in Chicago.

The firearm homicide rate in 2020 was the highest in 20 years, rising most among AI/AN and Black people. CDC's evidence-based resources for action cover suicide, youth violence, child abuse and neglect, and intimate partner and sexual violence. Its seven strategies against suicide: strengthen economic supports, create protective environments, improve access to suicide care, promote healthy connections, teach coping and problem-solving skills, identify and support people at risk, and lessen harms and prevent future risk. Against youth violence, it points to community approaches such as street outreach, safe spaces, business improvement districts and economic supports like the Earned Income Tax Credit.

Limits

• Toxicology testing and data vary by state and decedent.
• Records may be incomplete, especially for homicides and legal intervention deaths still under investigation.
• Mental health information often comes from family and friends, not medical records.

NVDRS began in 2003 with six states; since 2019 all 50 states, D.C. and Puerto Rico have taken part. Public data are on WISQARS.

If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in the United States.

Sources

Based on Grace S. Liu, Brenda L. Nguyen, Bridget H. Lyons, Kameron J. Sheats, Rebecca F. Wilson, Carter J. Betz and Katherine A. Fowler, "Surveillance for Violent Deaths — National Violent Death Reporting System, 48 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, 2020," MMWR Surveillance Summaries, volume 72, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; a work of the United States government in the public domain. The report's summary puts the highest legal intervention death rate among men aged 35–44, but its results put it among men aged 30–34, so no age is given here.