Even in the Most Depressed County in America, Stigma Around Mental Illness Persists — KFF Health News
By Phil Galewitz
An estimated 32% of adults in Logan County, West Virginia, have been diagnosed with depression — the highest rate in the United States and nearly double the national rate, according to a report released in June by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The study, which provided estimates by county based on a national survey of nearly 400,000 people conducted in 2020, showed depression rates varied widely by region and even within states. Most counties with the highest rates were in a 13-state swath of Appalachia; the southern Mississippi River Valley, particularly Arkansas, Louisiana and Tennessee; and Missouri, Oklahoma and Washington.
The states with the lowest rates included California, Illinois, Alaska and Hawaii.
West Virginia, which also has some of the nation’s highest rates of poverty and poor health, is home to eight of the 10 counties with the highest estimated rates of adult depression, the CDC survey found.