Which states have the biggest drug overdose problems?

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), deaths caused by drug overdose have hit an all-time high in the United States, jumping 7 percent in just one year and killing over 40,000 Americans in 2014. The problem can largely be attributed to the rapid rise in the abuse of opioids, including both prescription pain relievers and heroin.

To help Americans understand how drug overdoses are affecting their communities, HealthGrove set out to investigate which states and counties are the most affected by drug overdose. Using the most recent data from the CDC, HealthGrove ranked the percent of state populations that live in counties with high overdose death rates. A high overdose death rate is defined as over 20 deaths per 100,000 people. We've ranked the 20 states with the highest percentage of people living in high overdose counties, and sorted them from lowest to highest. On each slide, we include the relevant state map of drug poisoning deaths per 100,000 people.

Note: The CDC reports drug poisoning deaths in ranges, so the HealthGrove team mapped drug poisoning deaths in relation to population density to rank this list.