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People don’t often discuss sexually transmitted diseases openly, so their prevalence is not widely known. However, when it comes to certain STDs, that information is available.
An estimated 20 million infections are sexually transmitted each year in the United States, many of which are never reported or treated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Sexually transmitted diseases account for about $16 billion annually in health care costs, according to the CDC.
The Prevalence of STDs
The three most common sexually transmitted diseases reported to the CDC are chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis. Chlamydia is by far the most common STD, with more than 1.4 million cases reported in 2013, followed by gonorrhea, of which there were 330,000 cases. There were 17,000 cases of syphilis reported. However, since the symptoms of syphilis may not show up for years after infection, experts suspect many more unreported cases exist.
That tells part of the picture, but incidence rates of STDs vary widely by state. For example, gonorrhea is 20 times more prevalent in Georgia than it is in New Hampshire, per capita. Here’s the full ranking of states from most STDs to least, for chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis. Following that are the actual prevalence rates in each state, reported as incidents per 100,000 population.
STD Prevalence by state
Rank | State | Chlamydia Rate (per 100,000) | Chlamydia Rank | Gonorrhea Rate (per 100,000) | Gonorrhea Rank | Syphilis Rate (per 100,000) | Syphilis Rank | Score |
1 | Louisiana | 597.9 | 4 | 194 | 2 | 7.4 | 3 | 9 |
2 | Mississippi | 774.0 | 1 | 231 | 1 | 5.0 | 11 | 13 |
3 | Georgia | 534.0 | 8 | 156 | 5 | 9.5 | 1 | 14 |
4 | Alabama | 637.6 | 3 | 193 | 3 | 4.5 | 15 | 21 |
5 | South Carolina | 580.2 | 5 | 163 | 4 | 4.8 | 13 | 22 |
6 | Arkansas | 565.4 | 7 | 147 | 7 | 5.9 | 9 | 23 |
7 | Illinois | 526.1 | 9 | 141 | 10 | 6.2 | 8 | 27 |
8 | Texas | 494.8 | 13 | 127 | 13 | 6.3 | 6 | 32 |
9 | New York | 516.5 | 11 | 116 | 16 | 6.3 | 7 | 34 |
10 | North Carolina | 524.0 | 10 | 148 | 6 | 3.6 | 24 | 40 |
11 | Tennessee | 507.9 | 12 | 142 | 9 | 4.2 | 19 | 40 |
12 | New Mexico | 571.4 | 6 | 90 | 23 | 4.9 | 12 | 41 |
13 | Maryland | 455.3 | 21 | 98 | 22 | 7.4 | 4 | 47 |
14 | California | 444.9 | 23 | 89 | 25 | 7.8 | 2 | 50 |
15 | Delaware | 489.2 | 14 | 99 | 20 | 4.2 | 17 | 51 |
16 | Ohio | 460.3 | 20 | 143 | 8 | 3.7 | 23 | 51 |
17 | Florida | 407.4 | 32 | 102 | 18 | 7.2 | 5 | 55 |
18 | Michigan | 481.6 | 15 | 127 | 12 | 3.0 | 29 | 56 |
19 | Missouri | 463.1 | 18 | 131 | 11 | 2.6 | 31 | 60 |
20 | Alaska | 755.8 | 2 | 101 | 19 | 1.5 | 41 | 62 |
21 | Pennsylvania | 431.6 | 26 | 121 | 14 | 3.9 | 22 | 62 |
22 | Indiana | 452.7 | 22 | 113 | 17 | 3.4 | 26 | 65 |
23 | Arizona | 469.6 | 17 | 90 | 24 | 3.1 | 28 | 69 |
24 | Oklahoma | 444.2 | 24 | 117 | 15 | 2.2 | 35 | 74 |
25 | Virginia | 431.8 | 25 | 85 | 27 | 3.5 | 25 | 77 |
26 | South Dakota | 476.2 | 16 | 86 | 26 | 2.2 | 36 | 78 |
27 | Nevada | 408.9 | 31 | 83 | 29 | 4.1 | 20 | 80 |
28 | Kentucky | 395.3 | 33 | 98 | 21 | 3.4 | 27 | 81 |
29 | Colorado | 422.7 | 28 | 55 | 37 | 4.1 | 21 | 86 |
30 | Rhode Island | 410.3 | 30 | 48 | 39 | 4.2 | 18 | 87 |
31 | Hawaii | 461.2 | 19 | 59 | 35 | 1.7 | 37 | 91 |
32 | Oregon | 347.5 | 42 | 38 | 43 | 5.5 | 10 | 95 |
33 | Washington | 360.1 | 40 | 47 | 40 | 4.4 | 16 | 96 |
34 | Massachusetts | 357.5 | 41 | 40 | 42 | 4.8 | 14 | 97 |
35 | Wisconsin | 415.4 | 29 | 82 | 30 | 1.6 | 39 | 98 |
36 | Iowa | 371.5 | 36 | 66 | 33 | 2.3 | 33 | 102 |
37 | New Jersey | 309.2 | 44 | 85 | 28 | 2.6 | 32 | 104 |
38 | North Dakota | 425.2 | 27 | 49 | 38 | 0.6 | 47 | 112 |
39 | Connecticut | 364.9 | 39 | 60 | 34 | 1.5 | 40 | 113 |
40 | Minnesota | 337.8 | 43 | 58 | 36 | 2.2 | 34 | 113 |
41 | Nebraska | 366.2 | 38 | 78 | 32 | 0.4 | 48 | 118 |
42 | Kansas | 387.8 | 34 | 78 | 41 | 0.8 | 45 | 120 |
43 | New Hampshire | 233.0 | 50 | 11 | 47 | 2.7 | 30 | 127 |
44 | Idaho | 287.1 | 45 | 11 | 49 | 1.6 | 38 | 132 |
45 | Montana | 383.4 | 35 | 11 | 48 | 0.2 | 50 | 133 |
46 | Wyoming | 370.0 | 37 | 8 | 50 | 0.7 | 46 | 133 |
47 | Utah | 270.3 | 47 | 17 | 45 | 1.5 | 42 | 134 |
48 | Vermont | 275.2 | 46 | 16 | 46 | 1.0 | 44 | 136 |
49 | Maine | 257.0 | 49 | 34 | 44 | 1.3 | 43 | 136 |
50 | West Virginia | 258.2 | 48 | 45 | 41 | 0.4 | 49 | 138 |
All STD rate data are 2013 figures obtained from the CDC; this page has been updated to reflect the most current statistics. States were ranked according to disease prevalence, and then the overall score was determined by adding together ranks for all three diseases. Lower total scores indicate better states for STD rates.
Gloved hands photo courtesy of Shutterstock.