Firearms and explosives (although mostly firearms) have been the most common method of death by suicide since the early 1900s. Poisoning was generally the second-most common method, although there were some years where there were more suicide deaths due to hanging or strangulation. In this period, the suicide rate peaked in the early-1930s, at the height of the Great Depression, with almost 20,000 deaths by suicide in 1932 alone. Although the total number of deaths by suicide in the given period was highest in 1970, it is important to note that the U.S. population grew significantly during the 20th century and the suicide rate at this time was much lower than in the 1930s. Additionally, records were generally less reliable in early years, therefore many suicides may have gone unrecorded, may have been miscategorized as homicide or natural death, or miscategorized by method.

The suicide rate among females in the United States is highest for those aged 45 to 64 years and lowest among girls aged 10 to 14 and elderly women 75 and over. Although the suicide rate among women remains over three times lower than that of men, rates of suicide among women have gradually increased over the past couple decades. Suicide among women in the United States In 2021, there were around six suicide deaths per 100,000 women in the United States. In comparison, the rate of suicide among women in the year 2000 was about four per 100,000. Suicide rates among women are by far the highest among American Indians or Alaska Natives and lowest among Hispanic and Black or African American women. Although firearms are involved in the highest share of suicide deaths among both men and women, they account for a much smaller share among women. In 2020, the firearm suicide rate among women was 1.8 per 100,000 population, while the rates of suicide for suffocation and poisoning were 1.7 and 1.5 per 100,000, respectively. Suicidal ideation among women Although not everyone who experiences suicidal ideation, or suicidal thoughts, will attempt suicide, suicidal thoughts are a risk factor for suicide. In 2022, just over five percent of women in the United States reported having serious thoughts of suicide in the past year. Suicidal thoughts are more common among women than men even though men have much higher rates of death from suicide than women. This is because men are more likely to use more lethal methods of suicide such as firearms. Women who suffer from substance use disorder are significantly more likely to have serious thoughts of suicide than women without substance use disorder.

Download data on suicides in Massachusetts by demographics and year. This page also includes reporting on military & veteran suicide, and suicides during COVID-19.

Between 2015 and 2020, hanging, strangulation, or suffocation accounted for nearly ** percent of suicides among American Indians and Alaska Natives in the United States, compared to ** percent of suicides among non-American Indians and Alaska Natives. This statistic illustrates the distribution of suicides among American Indians or Alaska Natives and non-AI/AN in the United States from 2015 to 2020, by method.