Youth suicide rates in the United States rose sharply over the past decade, with the suicide rate among people aged 10 to 24 increasing 62% between 2007 and 2021, climbing from 6.8 deaths per 100,000 to 11.0. The steepest single-year jump occurred between 2016 and 2017, when the rate rose 10% in just one year. Since 2018, however, the overall trend has leveled off, and the most recent data from 2023 shows rates holding relatively steady rather than continuing to climb.
The Rise From 2007 to 2021
For most of the 2000s, youth suicide rates were stable. That changed around 2007, when a sustained increase began that would last more than a decade. By 2021, the rate for 10- to 24-year-olds had reached 11.0 per 100,000, a level not seen in decades. The increase was not gradual or even. Some years saw modest upticks, while the jump from 2016 to 2017 (9.6 to 10.6 per 100,000) stood out as the largest annual spike in the entire period.
Where Things Stand Now
After years of increases, the overall age-adjusted suicide rate stopped climbing significantly between 2018 and 2023. The most recent CDC data comparing 2022 and 2023 shows no statistically significant changes for any youth age group. Among males aged 15 to 24, the rate was 21.1 per 100,000 in 2022 and 21.2 in 2023. Among females in the same age range, it was 5.8 and 5.5, respectively. For younger adolescents aged 10 to 14, rates also held steady.
This plateau is not a decline. The rates that stabilized are far higher than they were 15 years ago, meaning a generation of young people is living with elevated risk even though the upward trend has paused.
Racial and Ethnic Disparities
The overall numbers mask stark differences by race and ethnicity. American Indian and Alaska Native youth have the highest suicide rate of any group, reaching 28.1 per 100,000 in 2021, a 26% increase from 2018 alone. Black youth experienced an even steeper relative climb during the same three-year window: suicide rates among Black young people aged 10 to 24 rose 36.6%, from 8.2 to 11.2 per 100,000. Hispanic youth also saw a significant increase of nearly 7%.
Meanwhile, suicide rates among white individuals actually declined slightly (about 4%) between 2018 and 2021. The result is a narrowing of what was once a wide gap, with communities of color bearing an increasing share of the burden.
Gender Differences
Males and females experience suicide risk in different ways. Females are more likely to report mental illness and to attempt suicide. But males die by suicide at roughly four times the rate of females (22.3 versus 5.6 per 100,000 across all ages). This gap has persisted for decades and reflects differences in the methods used, with males more often choosing methods with higher lethality.
Among teens and young adults specifically, the 2023 data illustrates the disparity clearly: males aged 15 to 24 died by suicide at a rate of 21.2 per 100,000, compared to 5.5 for females in the same age range.
The Role of Social Media
The rise in youth suicide has overlapped with the explosion of social media use, prompting intense scrutiny of the connection. About 77% of U.S. high school students now report using social media multiple times a day. CDC data from the 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that frequent social media users were 21% more likely to have seriously considered attempting suicide and 16% more likely to have made a suicide plan, compared to less frequent users.
The picture is more nuanced than a simple cause-and-effect story, though. When researchers broke the data down by sexual identity, the association between frequent social media use and suicide risk was strongest among heterosexual students and diminished among LGBQ+ students. And importantly, frequent social media use was not significantly associated with actual suicide attempts. This suggests social media may amplify distress or suicidal thinking in some groups without being the sole driver of the crisis.
Rural Communities Are Hit Harder
Where young people live matters. Over the past two decades, suicide rates in rural areas have been consistently higher than in urban areas, and the gap is widening. Between 2000 and 2020, suicide rates rose 46% in non-metro areas compared to 27% in metro areas. Rural residents also visit emergency departments for nonfatal self-harm at 1.5 times the rate of urban residents.
Part of the explanation is access to care. Seventy percent of U.S. counties have no child and adolescent psychiatrist at all, and nationally there are only 14 child psychiatrists per 100,000 children. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry estimates the country has less than a quarter of the behavioral health workforce needed to meet demand. For families in rural areas, where specialists are scarce and distances are long, getting help for a young person in crisis can be extraordinarily difficult.
What Prevention Looks Like
School-based programs have shown measurable results. Sources of Strength, a peer-led program used in high schools, reduced student suicide attempts by 29% in a randomized controlled trial across 22 schools. The program trains students to strengthen connections with trusted adults and promote help-seeking among their peers. It ran over two school years with follow-ups at 6, 12, and 18 months, and the reduction held even after researchers controlled for other risk factors like sexual violence history.
Programs like this work in part because they meet young people where they already are, in schools, and rely on peer influence rather than clinical intervention alone. Given the severe shortage of mental health providers, especially for children and teens, school-based approaches fill a gap that the healthcare system currently cannot.