COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio is emerging as one of the nation’s strongest turnaround stories in the long-running opioid crisis, with newly verified federal data confirming a dramatic drop in overdose deaths — the kind of progress that once seemed out of reach for a state that spent years near the top of the nation’s overdose rankings.
According to the CDC, Ohio was among only a handful of states — including Louisiana, Michigan, New Hampshire, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin — that experienced declines of 35% or more in overdose deaths in 2024 compared to 2023. CDC provisional data shows Ohio recorded 1,711 fewer overdose deaths in 2024 than in 2023, with the state’s predicted death count falling from roughly 4,847 to 3,136 for the 12-month period ending December 2024.
That number represents real families and real communities spared a devastating loss. CDC records show Ohio’s peak overdose toll in recent history came in April 2021, when the state’s 12-month rolling predicted death count reached 5,700. The downward trajectory since then has been steep.
The Ohio figures are part of a broader national shift. According to the CDC, there were roughly 30,000 fewer drug overdose deaths in 2024 than the year before — the single largest one-year decline ever recorded in the 45 years the agency has been collecting comparable data. The previous largest single-year drop was just 4%, recorded in 2018.
Nationally, KFF’s analysis of finalized CDC data found opioid overdose deaths fell from 79,358 in 2023 to 54,045 in 2024, driven largely by decreases in fentanyl-involved deaths. Young adults ages 18 to 25 saw the largest decline of any demographic group, at 42%, that same analysis found.
Further KFF analysis of finalized CDC data found that Ohio and Massachusetts each saw opioid overdose rates fall 36% below their 2019 pre-pandemic levels — among the largest such declines of any state in the country.
The trend appears to be continuing into 2025. CDC data shows Ohio’s monthly rate of nonfatal overdose emergency department visits dropped from 62.7 per 100,000 in August 2023 to 41.1 in August 2025, the most recent month for which data is available. The CDC’s most recent preliminary data, released February 11, 2026, predicts 72,108 total drug overdose deaths nationally for the 12 months ending September 2025 — an 18.9% decline compared to the prior year.
Experts point to a combination of factors behind the trend. Researchers cite expanded naloxone access, addiction treatment growth, shifts in drug use patterns, opioid lawsuit settlement funds directed toward prevention, and a generational shift away from the drugs most responsible for fatal overdoses.
Despite the progress, the crisis is far from over. Overdose remains the leading cause of death for Americans ages 18 to 44, according to the CDC, and public health officials stress that sustained funding and intervention are needed to hold the gains. And while annual overdose deaths nationally remain higher than pre-pandemic levels, Ohio is an exception — recent monthly figures for the state have dipped below 2019 numbers, according to CDC provisional data.