Analysis ranks Idaho 7th highest for mental health problems, Washington 6th

A new report by the pharmaceutical provider NiceRx ranked Washington and Idaho sixth and seventh, respectively, for states with the highest prevalence of mental health problems.

The company used 2019-20 data from the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration, which includes data on drug and alcohol use as well as the percentage of people receiving mental health services, to rank each state.

Based on that analysis, the report estimated that 25.51% of Washington residents and 24.92% of Idahoans had experienced mental health problems.

Utah, Oregon and West Virginia ranked highest on the list with an estimated mental illness prevalence near 30%, and Maryland, Georgia and Florida ranked lowest at around 17%.

The company is far from the first to try and rank states by their residents mental health. The nonprofit Mental Health America ranked Idaho’s adult population 49th for mental wellness and Washington was 46th. Among youths, Idaho was 46th and Washington was 43th.

The website Health Care Insider ranked states by cost, access and quality of mental health care. In their analysis, Idaho ranked 48th and Washington ranked 33rd.