Of the 50 counties across the United States with the poorest mental health, an astounding 60% of them are found in West Virginia, including the top eleven. It’s in McDowell County, West Virginia, where over the course of 30 days, people experience 7.5 days of poor mental health on average. This is nearly double the national average, which is 4.9 days over a span of 30 days.
Utilizing data from the 2022 County Health Rankings, the team at Charlotte’s Web looked over the typical number of mentally unhealthy days that were reported across various counties in the United States, all to determine which U.S. states and counties have the worst mental health. So, where in the United States has the worst mental health? West Virginia was clearly the state that fell at the top of the overall ranking, with an average of 6.6 poor mental health days across 30 day periods. Followed by West Virginia were Louisiana (5.6 days on average), Alabama (5.6 days on average), Arkansas (5.6 days on average), and Kentucky (5.5 days on average).
The mental health in West Virginia is so poor that of the top twenty counties in the United States, only three aren’t actually in West Virginia. These are Kusilvak, Alaska (6.7 poor mental health days), McKinely, New Mexico (6.7 poor mental health days), and Clinch, Georgia with 6.6 poor mental health days on average. Mental health may be worse than ever right now, and some of this data has proven to be quite alarming, especially in certain states. Aside from West Virginia, Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas, and Kentucky, only five other states in the United States had average numbers of poor mental health days of five or more, with those being Mississippi (5.3 days on average), Michigan (5.2 days on average), Ohio (5.2 days on average), Tennessee (5.1 days on average), and Oklahoma (5.0 days on average).
