US Counties With the Highest Infant Mortality
1,172 US counties ranked by infant mortality, from highest to lowest. First are Kusilvak Census Area, AK (20.2), Oglala Lakota County, SD (16.9) and Todd County, SD (15.4). The middle one of the 1,172 has 6.22.
What this measures
Deaths of babies before their first birthday per 1,000 babies born alive. Source: County Health Rankings.
For most measures, a national ranking mostly sorts places by income and by how urban they are. Each county’s own page compares it with the 50 counties most like it instead, which is often the fairer view.
The 100 highest counties
Every state, highest first
Each state’s own published figure, not an average of its counties.
| Rank | State | deaths per 1,000 live births |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mississippi | 8.7 |
| 2 | Arkansas | 7.78 |
| 3 | Louisiana | 7.53 |
| 4 | Alabama | 7.49 |
| 5 | West Virginia | 7.09 |
| 6 | Ohio | 7.05 |
| 7 | Oklahoma | 7 |
| 8 | Indiana | 6.96 |
| 9 | Georgia | 6.91 |
| 10 | North Carolina | 6.88 |
| 11 | South Carolina | 6.88 |
| 12 | Tennessee | 6.82 |
| 13 | South Dakota | 6.64 |
| 14 | Michigan | 6.46 |
| 15 | Delaware | 6.37 |
| 16 | District of Columbia | 6.18 |
| 17 | Missouri | 6.16 |
| 18 | Maryland | 6.13 |
| 19 | Kansas | 6.08 |
| 20 | Kentucky | 6.05 |
| 21 | Florida | 5.99 |
| 22 | Wisconsin | 5.97 |
| 23 | Illinois | 5.93 |
| 24 | Alaska | 5.85 |
| 25 | Virginia | 5.84 |
| 26 | Pennsylvania | 5.82 |
| 27 | Maine | 5.75 |
| 28 | Nebraska | 5.65 |
| 29 | New Mexico | 5.61 |
| 30 | Arizona | 5.58 |
| 31 | Texas | 5.58 |
| 32 | Hawaii | 5.52 |
| 33 | Nevada | 5.47 |
| 34 | Wyoming | 5.41 |
| 35 | Utah | 5.32 |
| 36 | North Dakota | 5.26 |
| 37 | Montana | 5.13 |
| 38 | Idaho | 5.1 |
| 39 | Rhode Island | 5.06 |
| 40 | Iowa | 5.03 |
| 41 | Colorado | 4.75 |
| 42 | Minnesota | 4.72 |
| 43 | Oregon | 4.52 |
| 44 | Connecticut | 4.49 |
| 45 | Washington | 4.32 |
| 46 | New York | 4.3 |
| 47 | California | 4.12 |
| 48 | Vermont | 4.08 |
| 49 | New Jersey | 3.98 |
| 50 | New Hampshire | 3.82 |
| 51 | Massachusetts | 3.72 |
More on infant mortality
- US Counties With the Lowest Infant Mortality
- Infant mortality by US county: map by year and what it goes with
A ranking describes places, not the people in them, and a high or low place does not by itself say why. All US rankings.