U.S. Suicide Deaths Declined in 2024. What Comes Next for Maryland?

New national data offer cautious reason for hope. According to the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS Data Brief 572), 48,824 people in the United States died by suicide in 2024, compared with 49,316 in 2023. The age-adjusted suicide rate fell from 14.1 to 13.7 deaths per 100,000 people.

The 2026 "Pain in the Nation" report from Trust for America's Health also found a decline. As reported by Maryland Matters (Danielle J. Brown, June 6, 2026), the report described a 3% national drop in suicide deaths between 2023 and 2024. It was the first year with significant declines in all three causes of death the report tracks.

Maryland's picture is more mixed

Not every state shared in the progress. Maryland saw a 4% increase and was one of more than a dozen states where suicide deaths rose. At the same time, Maryland's rate, 9.7 per 100,000, remains below the national rate of 13.7.

Both facts matter. A lower rate is encouraging, but an increase means more Maryland families lost someone, and it is a signal to look closely at what is changing and for whom.

Priorities for the path forward

Dr. Holly Wilcox, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Suicide Prevention and chair of the Maryland Commission on Suicide Prevention, spoke with Maryland Matters about where the state can focus. She pointed to three areas:

• Reducing access to lethal means. Dr. Wilcox discussed the number of firearms in circulation. Safer storage and other means-safety steps put time and distance between a person in crisis and lethal means.
• Workplace prevention. Training that helps colleagues recognize when someone is struggling and respond with care can extend prevention into the places people spend much of their day.
• Better data. Deaths are not always easy to classify. Improving how they are recorded helps Maryland understand what is happening and direct resources where they are needed most.

Progress that needs sustaining

One year of data is not a trend. National rates can fall while some states and some groups see increases, and the reasons behind any change are rarely simple. What the new numbers do show is that suicide rates can move in the right direction.

Keeping that progress depends on continued investment in the public health work behind it: crisis services, follow-up care, means safety, and data systems that show where help is reaching people and where it is not. The Center will continue to work with communities, agencies and the Commission to turn the evidence into action across Maryland.