U.S. Death Rate Fell to Record Low in 2025, CDC Data Show
The U.S. age-adjusted death rate fell to a record low in 2025, even as the total number of deaths rose, according to provisional federal data published by the National Center for Health Statistics in July 2026.
NCHS reported 3,094,593 deaths among U.S. residents in 2025. The provisional age-adjusted death rate was 689.2 deaths per 100,000 people, down 4.6% from 722.1 in 2024 and the lowest recorded U.S. rate in the report.
Why the rate fell while deaths increased
The two measures answer different questions. The raw death count is the number of deaths recorded. It rose from 3,072,666 in 2024 to 3,094,593 in 2025.
The age-adjusted rate is designed to make mortality comparisons more meaningful when the population’s age structure changes. Because older adults generally face higher mortality risks, the number of deaths can rise as the population grows or ages even when the age-adjusted rate declines.
That means the record-low adjusted rate does not show that fewer Americans died overall, and it is not proof that every health outcome improved.
Rates declined across age groups and sexes
Provisional death rates declined for every age group and for both males and females. The rate remained higher for males: 811.1 deaths per 100,000, compared with 582.9 for females.
Older adults continued to have the highest mortality rates. The highest reported age-adjusted rate among the racial and ethnic groups listed by NCHS was 869.0 deaths per 100,000 among Black non-Hispanic people.
NCHS reported that rates increased for American Indian and Alaska Native people and for Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander people. The rate did not change significantly for Asian people and declined for several other groups. The agency cautioned that changes in population denominators can disproportionately affect rates for smaller racial and ethnic populations, so those comparisons require care.
Heart disease and cancer deaths rose in raw numbers
Heart disease, cancer and unintentional injuries remained the three leading causes of death. Raw deaths attributed to heart disease increased to 694,708 in 2025 from 683,491 in 2024. Cancer deaths rose to 622,832 from 619,876.
Those increases do not contradict the lower overall age-adjusted rate. Cause-specific counts can rise as the population grows or ages, while an age-adjusted national rate falls. The provisional report describes the changes but does not establish a single cause for them.
Unintentional-injury figures require additional caution because those deaths are subject to a greater reporting lag and may increase in final data.
What could change
The CDC report remains provisional, not final. It was based on 99.9% of 2025 death records received and processed as of May 10, 2026. Late records, updated cause-of-death information and revised population estimates can change the totals and rates.
Readers tracking revisions should watch the CDC/NCHS mortality dashboard and later final mortality releases. The current takeaway is mixed: the nation’s age-adjusted mortality rate reached a historic low in 2025, while the number of recorded deaths—and the raw counts for heart disease and cancer—still increased.
Sources
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