Infant mortality rate by state

How the rate is counted

The CDC defines infant mortality as the death of a baby before its first birthday. The rate divides the infant deaths recorded in a year by the live births of the same year and expresses the result per 1,000 births. The figures here are for 2024 and come from the National Center for Health Statistics, which builds them from every death and birth certificate filed in the country and publishes them on its Stats of the States pages. They are counts, not survey estimates, so they carry no margin of error. Deaths are assigned to the state where the mother lived.

Across the 51 values, the median is 5.7 per 1,000 live births, a little above the national rate. 31 states, counting DC, have a rate above 5.5 per 1,000 live births and 20¹ are at or below it. The national rate counts every birth, so states with many births weigh more in it, while the median treats each state equally. California, with the most births of any state (402,075), has one of the lowest rates, and New York (205,489) and New Jersey (101,372²) also rank near the bottom.

The South at one end, the Northeast at the other

The rates follow the Census Bureau's regions closely.

• South. Mississippi tops the region and the country. The lowest rate in the South is Maryland's, 5.5 per 1,000 live births, equal to the US rate: no Southern state is below it. Of the ten highest rates, all but South Dakota, Alaska and Ohio belong to Southern states: Mississippi, Arkansas, Delaware, Louisiana (7.6 per 1,000 live births), South Carolina (7.5 per 1,000 live births), Oklahoma (7.4 per 1,000 live births) and Alabama (7.1 per 1,000 live births).
• Northeast. The highest rate in the region, Pennsylvania's 5.7 per 1,000 live births, would rank in the middle nationally. New Hampshire, New Jersey, Massachusetts and New York hold the four lowest rates in the nation, and Rhode Island (4.2 per 1,000 live births) shares the next place with California.
• West. Rates run from 4.2 per 1,000 live births in California to 6.8 per 1,000 live births in Alaska, the highest in the West. Hawaii (4.4 per 1,000 live births) has the 7th lowest rate.
• Midwest. South Dakota has the highest in the Midwest rate (7.3 per 1,000 live births), higher than every bordering state (Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota and Wyoming). Iowa has the lowest (4.5 per 1,000 live births), and Ohio, at 6.7 per 1,000 live births, has the 10th highest¹ rate in the country.

Borders do not soften the contrast. Delaware, the 3rd highest in the South, is higher than every bordering state (Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania); one of those neighbors, New Jersey, has the second-lowest rate in the nation. Mississippi's rate is higher than every bordering state (Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Tennessee)¹.

Mississippi9.7

Arkansas8.3

Delaware7.8

Louisiana7.6

South Carolina7.5

Oklahoma7.4

South Dakota7.3

Alabama7.1

Alaska6.8

Ohio6.7

West Virginia6.6

Nebraska6.5

Missouri6.4

Tennessee6.4

Georgia6.4

United States5.5

Source: CDC National Center for Health Statistics, Stats of the States. Period: 2024.

Show the numbers

State	Infant mortality
Mississippi	9.7
Arkansas	8.3
Delaware	7.8
Louisiana	7.6
South Carolina	7.5
Oklahoma	7.4
South Dakota	7.3
Alabama	7.1
Alaska	6.8
Ohio	6.7
West Virginia	6.6
Nebraska	6.5
Missouri	6.4
Tennessee	6.4
Georgia	6.4
United States	5.5

Preterm births and low birthweight

The CDC lists preterm birth and low birthweight among the five leading causes of infant death in the United States. Both are recorded on the birth certificate for every state. Nationally, 10.41% of babies born in 2024 arrived preterm, before 37 completed weeks of pregnancy, and 8.52%¹ were born at a low birthweight, the NCHS category for the lightest newborns.

At the two ends of the infant mortality ranking, these birth measures point the same way:

• Mississippi has the highest preterm share of any state, 15.00%, 4.6 percentage points above the US figure (10.41%), and the highest low-birthweight share, 12.70%, 4.2 percentage points above the US figure (8.52%). Louisiana is second on both (13.99% and 11.63%).
• New Hampshire has the lowest preterm share (7.93%, 2.5 percentage points below the US figure (10.41%)) and the lowest low-birthweight share (6.65%, 1.9 percentage points below the US figure (8.52%)¹).

Between the ends the measures part ways. South Dakota and Alaska have infant mortality rates well above the national figure, yet smaller low-birthweight shares than the nation: South Dakota's share is 1.2 percentage points below the US figure (8.52%) and Alaska's 1.6 percentage points below the US figure (8.52%). Delaware's preterm share is 0.1 percentage points above the US figure (10.41%), close to the US figure, while its infant mortality rate is the third highest. Colorado and Wyoming go the other way: low-birthweight shares above the national figure (1.0 percentage points above the US figure (8.52%) and 1.2 percentage points above the US figure (8.52%)) and infant mortality rates 18% below the US figure (5.5 per 1,000 live births) and 17% below the US figure (5.5 per 1,000 live births). The District of Columbia has the third-highest low-birthweight share (10.99%) and an infant mortality rate of 6.0 per 1,000 live births, 9% above the US figure (5.5 per 1,000 live births)¹.

These measures describe the same babies from different angles; the table shows where they agree and where they do not, not how much one explains the other.

Infant deaths and other measures

Infant mortality appears next to other rankings on this site. Mississippi has both the highest infant mortality rate and the highest teen birth rate (22.8 per 1,000 females aged 15 to 19, 81% above the US figure (12.6 per 1,000 females aged 15 to 19)²); see the teen birth rate ranking. Deaths before age one also weigh on life expectancy at birth, which is shortest in a band of Southern states.

The share of residents without health insurance does not line up with the infant mortality ranking in a simple way. Texas has the highest uninsured rate of any state, 16.5%⁴ in 2025, while its infant mortality rate, 5.7 per 1,000 live births, ranks tied for 26th highest (3% above the US figure (5.5 per 1,000 live births)¹). The uninsured rate is an ACS survey estimate for 2025 and covers all ages; the uninsured rate ranking has the details.

Small states, few births, unstable rates

A rate per 1,000 births rests on a small number of deaths in a state with few births. Vermont recorded 5,023 births in 2024, Wyoming 6,089 and the District of Columbia 7,616; California recorded 402,075 and Texas 390,828². In the small states, a handful of deaths more or fewer moves the rate by several tenths, enough to shift the state many places in the ranking from one year to the next. In California or Texas the rate barely moves for the same change.

New Hampshire 3.0Mississippi 9.7

Source: CDC National Center for Health Statistics, Stats of the States. Each dot is a state. Period: 2024.

Show the numbers

State	Infant mortality
Mississippi	9.7
Arkansas	8.3
Delaware	7.8
Louisiana	7.6
South Carolina	7.5
Oklahoma	7.4
South Dakota	7.3
Alabama	7.1
Alaska	6.8
Ohio	6.7
West Virginia	6.6
Nebraska	6.5
Missouri	6.4
Tennessee	6.4
Georgia	6.4
Indiana	6.3
Michigan	6.3
North Carolina	6.2
Montana	6.2
District of Columbia	6.0
Virginia	6.0
North Dakota	5.9
Wisconsin	5.9
Kentucky	5.9
Kansas	5.9
Florida	5.7
Illinois	5.7
Texas	5.7
Pennsylvania	5.7
Vermont	5.6
Maryland	5.5
Arizona	5.4
Nevada	5.3
New Mexico	5.2
Utah	5.2
Oregon	4.9
Washington	4.8
Idaho	4.7
Minnesota	4.6
Wyoming	4.6
Colorado	4.5
Connecticut	4.5
Iowa	4.5
Maine	4.5
Hawaii	4.4
Rhode Island	4.2
California	4.2
New York	4.0
Massachusetts	3.5
New Jersey	3.4
New Hampshire	3.0

Vermont, at 5.6 per 1,000 live births, and New Hampshire, at 3.0 per 1,000 live births¹, are neighbors, both with small numbers of births, so part of the gap between them can be year-to-year variation. The places at the very top and bottom are more informative when they also stand out on preterm births and low birthweight, as Mississippi and New Hampshire do.

Reading the ranking correctly

• One year: 2024. These are final 2024 figures. Provisional figures for 2025 are revised before they become final and are not used here.
• Ties at one decimal. NCHS publishes rates to one decimal, so several states share a rank; the table shows tied ranks.
• Residence, not place of birth or death. A baby born in a hospital across a state line is counted in the mother's home state.
• Rates, not counts. Large states record many more infant deaths than small ones simply because they have more births; the rate is the figure to compare.
• States only. Infant mortality by race and ethnicity, and for counties or cities, is outside this page; the site covers states.