50 States of First-Half Death Increase Data, for People Ages 25-64

COVID-19 continued to be a menace in the first half of this year for advisors who were trying to help working-age clients fine-tune life insurance and retirement planning arrangements.

The change in the number of deaths of people ages 25 through 64 ranged from a decrease of 2.5%, in Hawaii, up to an increase of more than 36%, in one state, with a median of 15.5%.

For a look at the five states with the biggest working-age death count increases, based on preliminary weekly data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, see the gallery above.

For data for all 50 states and the District of Columbia, which would have ranked third in the gallery if it were a state, see the chart below.

What It Means

COVID-19, the effects of the pandemic on the economy and the health care system, and other medical, social and economic trends, are continuing to have a devastating effect on mortality for working-age people.

That means advisors and their clients may continue to face high levels of uncertainty about what life expectancy estimates to put into income planning calculators and other planning systems.

The Backdrop

About 1.6 million U.S. residents died from all causes between the week ending Jan. 5 and the week ending June 26, according to the CDC weekly death data.

The figures for the past few weeks are based on incomplete, adjusted death counts that might increase as more states send complete data to the CDC.

The total U.S. death count was down 0.8% from the total for the first half of 2021, but still 15.3% higher than the total for the first half of 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic began.

For working-age people — people ages 25 through 64 — the number of deaths increased 14.8% between the first half of 2019 and the first half of this year, to about 380,000.

The rate of increase is down from 24% between the first half of 2019 and the first half of 2021, but it appears to be one of the biggest mortality increases for working-age U.S. residents recorded between the end of World War II and the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

U.S. Deaths From All Causes

	Deaths, by Age Group, for the period running from the week ending Jan. 5 through the Week ending June 26.				2022 deaths of people ages 25-64, as a share of deaths of all people ages 25 and older	Change in the number of deaths, since 2019, for …
	25-44	45-64	25-64	25 and older		Adults ages 25-64	Adults ages 25 and older
Alabama	1,485	6,268	7,753	29,506	26.3%	13.0%	15.6%
Alaska	131	590	721	2,358	30.6%	10.2%	20.9%
Arizona	2,056	6,658	8,714	36,984	23.6%	22.5%	24.9%
Arkansas	943	3,755	4,698	18,335	25.6%	17.5%	17.8%
California	8,565	27,218	35,783	151,572	23.6%	15.5%	14.7%
Colorado	1,189	4,224	5,413	23,073	23.5%	9.6%	20.3%
Connecticut	939	2,883	3,822	18,645	20.5%	22.9%	19.9%
Delaware	187	959	1,146	5,599	20.5%	22.6%	31.9%
District of Columbia	221	834	1,055	3,085	34.2%	32.4%	23.3%
Florida	5,689	20,257	25,946	118,926	21.8%	11.4%	16.6%
Georgia	2,199	10,084	12,283	48,456	25.3%	5.2%	18.7%
Hawaii	121	1,036	1,157	6,192	18.7%	-2.5%	9.6%
Idaho	349	1,355	1,704	8,079	21.1%	36.2%	17.8%
Illinois	2,978	10,797	13,775	58,114	23.7%	17.8%	14.6%
Indiana	1,767	6,908	8,675	35,605	24.4%	10.9%	12.0%
Iowa	492	2,627	3,119	16,226	19.2%	7.9%	11.3%
Kansas	784	2,640	3,424	15,018	22.8%	24.8%	16.9%
Kentucky	1,452	5,910	7,362	27,318	26.9%	12.5%	16.0%
Louisiana	1,531	5,252	6,783	24,669	27.5%	9.5%	12.8%
Maine	420	1,417	1,837	8,166	22.5%	33.6%	14.9%
Maryland	1,541	5,153	6,694	27,021	24.8%	7.4%	11.4%
Massachusetts	1,436	4,999	6,435	30,965	20.8%	7.8%	7.2%
Michigan	2,584	9,865	12,449	53,588	23.2%	15.1%	15.6%
Minnesota	1,021	3,866	4,887	24,038	20.3%	13.1%	12.2%
Mississippi	982	4,030	5,012	17,824	28.1%	14.3%	15.9%
Missouri	1,519	6,995	8,514	35,464	24.0%	11.3%	15.1%
Montana	256	956	1,212	5,574	21.7%	25.2%	12.9%
Nebraska	355	1,448	1,803	8,922	20.2%	6.3%	8.7%
Nevada	898	3,087	3,985	15,735	25.3%	16.4%	22.4%
New Hampshire	233	1,192	1,425	6,789	21.0%	19.5%	16.8%
New Jersey	1,687	6,830	8,517	39,986	21.3%	11.1%	11.6%
New Mexico	942	2,097	3,039	10,875	27.9%	21.4%	19.9%
New York	2,274	8,838	11,112	54,485	20.4%	18.7%	12.1%
New York City	1,748	5,917	7,665	29,491	26.0%	15.8%	13.2%
North Carolina	3,001	10,999	14,000	54,722	25.6%	19.2%	17.5%
North Dakota	154	666	820	3,610	22.7%	26.2%	7.2%
Ohio	3,404	12,870	16,274	67,567	24.1%	13.7%	14.2%
Oklahoma	1,105	4,756	5,861	22,857	25.6%	14.5%	19.6%
Oregon	1,010	3,544	4,554	21,002	21.7%	17.0%	16.4%
Pennsylvania	3,199	12,265	15,464	72,006	21.5%	11.0%	10.4%
Puerto Rico	764	2,466	3,230	16,556	19.5%	1.5%	15.8%
Rhode Island	124	844	968	5,290	18.3%	13.9%	6.4%
South Carolina	1,524	5,599	7,123	28,524	25.0%	13.2%	19.5%
South Dakota	106	750	856	4,197	20.4%	23.0%	10.2%
Tennessee	2,720	9,351	12,071	42,836	28.2%	17.5%	18.3%
Texas	7,269	24,479	31,748	118,468	26.8%	19.9%	21.7%
Utah	695	1,799	2,494	10,933	22.8%	11.0%	18.9%
Vermont	11	569	580	3,233	17.9%	*	*
Virginia	2,107	7,443	9,550	39,895	23.9%	19.5%	19.8%
Washington	1,693	5,702	7,395	32,705	22.6%	15.8%	15.5%
West Virginia	747	2,796	3,543	13,396	26.4%	19.4%	20.0%
Wisconsin	1,377	4,979	6,356	29,058	21.9%	21.5%	13.7%
Wyoming	12	440	452	2,492	18.1%	11.3%	21.9%
TOTAL	81,996	299,262	381,258	1,606,030	23.7%
MEDIAN					23.5%	15.5%	15.8%
Source: Weekly Counts of Deaths by Jurisdiction and Age. Complete Vermont data for 2019 is not currently available. New York City reports its data separately from the data for New York state.