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Common Types of STDs: Statistics by State

May 5, 2014

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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.

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