988 lifeline capacity: GAO finds volume up, but answer rates vary by method

When someone dials, texts, or chats with the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, “capacity” is supposed to translate into something simple: will a person reach help quickly and consistently. A new Government Accountability Office (GAO) review shows a mixed picture—more contacts coming through after 988 launched, but performance that differs by whether people call, text, or use chat.

GAO reports that total contact volume increased from July 2022 through September 2025, and that call answer rates increased overall. But GAO also found text and chat answer rates fluctuated and that average time to answer varied by method—generally longer for texts and chats than for calls.

What GAO reviewed, and the time window that matters

Congress required GAO to review the 988 Lifeline. GAO’s analysis covers the period beginning July 2022 (when the 988 number went into effect) through September 2025. That means the report is about the early rollout-and-upgrade years—not a real-time measure of today’s capacity.

GAO explains that SAMHSA (the federal agency that oversees the Lifeline) primarily measures capacity using:

• Contact volume (how many contacts were routed)
• Answer rates (the share of contacts responded to)
• Average time to answer (how long people waited)

What changed: far more calls, texts, and chats reached crisis centers

In the window GAO studied, about 19.1 million calls, texts, and chats were routed to crisis contact centers. GAO reports volume rose by about 87% for calls, about 260% for texts, and about 23% for chats.

What improved: call answer rates rose

GAO’s headline finding is that call answer rates increased over time. For residents, this is the practical “reach help” metric: it tracks the share of routed calls that crisis counselors actually answered.

What didn’t move evenly: texts and chats fluctuated—and waited longer

GAO found that answer rates for texts and chats varied across the months GAO reviewed, including periods when average time to answer also changed. GAO reports that average time to answer for texts and chats was generally higher than for calls—with texts and chats showing wider month-to-month variation than calls.

Routing differences are part of the explanation

GAO says routing works differently by contact method. As of March 2026, calls are generally routed to local crisis contact centers based on a caller’s approximate location, while texts and chats are routed based on individuals’ area codes or ZIP codes. GAO also reports that SAMHSA plans to begin routing texts based on approximate location by April 2027, in accordance with a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rule.

What to watch next: SAMHSA’s answer-rate goal and upcoming routing updates

GAO notes that SAMHSA set a performance goal for local crisis contact centers: by September 2026, centers should answer more than 90% of the texts and chats they receive. Meanwhile, GAO flags that upcoming FCC-driven text-routing changes could affect how quickly texts reach the right centers—so the next wave of capacity reporting (using the same core metrics) will be important to monitor beyond GAO’s July 2022–September 2025 window.

Sources

• GAO (GAO-26-108114): Suicide Prevention—Capacity and Federal Assessment of the 988 Lifeline (landing page / key findings)
• GAO-26-108114 (full report text): Suicide Prevention—Capacity and Federal Assessment of the 988 Lifeline