10 Worst States for Working-Age Deaths Now

Related: Early COVID-19 Spike Drove Up High-Income People’s Mortality, Too: Researchers

In August, monthly U.S. mortality figures for people ages 25 to 64 looked about the same as the figures for earlier months.

This month, there are early signs that the death rate for people in the age group traditionally thought of as working age may be getting worse, even in some states that have taken aggressive steps to control the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 has hit people ages 65 and older, but it has also increased the death rate for people ages 25 through 64 sharply over the usual levels.

The mortality rate for working-age people is of keen interest to life insurers, because people in that age group are more likely than older people to have life insurance and disability insurance.

COVID-19′s impact on the total number of deaths may be even more important to insurers than the direct effect of the pandemic on mortality: For insurers, the number of deaths caused by the effects of COVID-19 on health care facilities, and the number of deaths caused by the effects of contagion control efforts on people’s financial and psychological well-being, may have the same effect on claims as deaths caused directly by COVID-19.

An analysis of preliminary state mortality figures from the National Center for Health Statistics, an arm of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shows that about 16,815 people in the 25-64 age group may have died in the week ending Sept. 4.

That total, which is based on data that CDC analysts tried to adjust for state vital statistics reporting delays, was down from 17,145 for the week ending Aug. 7, four weeks earlier.

The first adjusted mortality figures released for a week tend to look low because of reporting delays not reflected in the CDC adjustments.

In 10 states, even the current, incomplete data show that the weekly number of deaths of working-age people from all causes rose more than 13% between the first week of August and the first week of September.

For a look at those 10 states, see the slideshow above.

One of the states in the slideshow, for example, is Texas, which may have recorded about 1,565 deaths of people ages 25 through 64 for the week ending Aug. 7, and 1,887 deaths of people in that age group for the week ending Sept, 4, according to the adjusted CDC figures.

In 2019, Texas reported 1,051 deaths of people ages 25 through 64 for the first week of August, and 1,069 for the first week of September.

For data for the first week of this past August and the first week of September for all 50 states and the District of Columbia, see the table below.

Deaths of People Ages 25-64, From All Causes
	Number of deaths		Change
	Week ending Aug. 7	Week ending Sept. 11	Time Period
Alabama	434	451	4%
Alaska	40	18	-55%
Arizona	435	454	4%
Arkansas	272	241	-11%
California	1,536	1,412	-8%
Colorado	254	252	-1%
Connecticut	104	-	-100%
Delaware	60	31	-48%
District of Columbia	31	34	10%
Florida	1,670	1,884	13%
Georgia	609	758	24%
Hawaii	36	63	75%
Idaho	77	91	18%
Illinois	526	585	11%
Indiana	286	279	-2%
Iowa	121	128	6%
Kansas	170	134	-21%
Kentucky	255	278	9%
Louisiana	362	213	-41%
Maine	47	72	53%
Maryland	256	267	4%
Massachusetts	246	251	2%
Michigan	523	320	-39%
Minnesota	167	173	4%
Mississippi	287	325	13%
Missouri	464	329	-29%
Montana	52	70	35%
Nebraska	60	50	-17%
Nevada	211	193	-9%
New Hampshire	57	63	11%
New Jersey	346	362	5%
New Mexico	126	111	-12%
New York	448	476	6%
New York City	346	364	5%
North Carolina	424	342	-19%
North Dakota	23	18	-22%
Ohio	632	693	10%
Oklahoma	281	233	-17%
Oregon	190	245	29%
Pennsylvania	574	576	0%
Rhode Island	43	22	-49%
South Carolina	334	360	8%
South Dakota	35	36	3%
Tennessee	519	669	29%
Texas	1,565	1,887	21%
Utah	131	141	8%
Vermont	18	20	11%
Virginia	416	434	4%
Washington	329	343	4%
West Virginia	72	-	-100%
Wisconsin	222	235	6%
Wyoming	28	32	14%
United States	16,815	17,145	2%
Source: The CDCD’s National Center for Health Statistics, Weekly Counts of Deaths by Jurisdiction and Age.