Mental Health Spending By State Across the US

Addictive substances take lives and take over lives, so it’s important to have treatment providers to help those in need. The amount of budget allocated towards mental health spending varies state to state, with some states having far more fiscal resources to dedicate towards its residents’ mental health. Many states have increased the amount of spending in recent years in an attempt to battle the mental health crisis, with some states even doubling the amount of funding.

In order to explore how mental health treatment spending compares across the United States, we broke down total spending by state, per capita, and per client in each state. Additionally, we looked at the percentage of the population served by mental health agencies in each state.  

The Total Amount of State Mental Health Agency Expenditures in Every State

Looking at the total amount of state mental health expenditures in each state, California has the highest amount with $6,762,808,997 dedicated to mental health spending. The state with the second highest amount of mental health expenditures is New York, with almost 2 billion dollars less allocated than California: $4,952,100,000. Other states with over 1 billion dollars allocated towards mental health spending include Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Arizona, Michigan, Texas, Maryland, Ohio, and Minnesota. As you can see, this list of states includes a variety of sizes and population, showing that the total amount of spending by state isn’t necessarily dependent on the size of the state.

The 5 states with the lowest total amounts of state mental health expenditures all have less than $100 million dollars dedicated towards mental health spending. These states are Delaware, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, and Idaho. Idaho has the lowest total amount of state mental health expenditures with $59,200,000 annually.

The Total Amount of State Mental Health Agency Expenditures per Capita in Every State

Next, we looked at the amount of state mental health agency expenditures per capita in every state. Interestingly the states with the highest and lowest amounts varied from what we observed in the trends by total. Maine has the amount of state mental health agency expenditures per capita in the U.S., with $362.75, followed closely by Washington, D.C. and Vermont with $335.16 and $324.28, respectively. While California had the highest total amount of mental health expenditures, they come in at 14th when looking at the per capita figures.

The state with the lowest amount of per capita mental health spending is Florida with $36.05 per capita. There is quite a difference between the state with the highest per capita amount and lowest — Maine spends more than 10 times more per capita on mental health spending than Florida.

The Total Amount of State Mental Health Agency Expenditures per Client in Every State

Next, we explored the amount of mental health expenditures by client in each state, which specifically looks at the number of individuals served by state mental health agencies. Hawaii has the highest amount of per client mental health expenditures in the U.S., spending an average of $14,779 per client annually. Hawaii is followed by Alaska and California, who spend $10,165 and $9,718, respectively.

The state with the lowest amount of per client mental health expenditures, Kentucky, spends a fraction of what Hawaii does on each client — Kentucky spends an average of only $1,641 per client. Florida had the lowest amount of per capita spending, and they also rate low when it comes to per client numbers, spending an average of $3,083 per client, more than only 7 other states. Note, the per client spending information was not available for Massachusetts so it was not included in this portion of the analysis.

The Percentage of Each State’s Population Served by Mental Health Agency Expenditures

Lastly, we examined the percentage of each state’s population that is served by mental health expenditures. With 5.13% of its population served, Maine has the highest percentage of population served by mental health expenditures. Interestingly, Maine also has the highest amount of state mental health agency expenditures per capita. Pennsylvania, Kansas, and New Mexico also serve over 4% of their population with mental health expenditures.

The states with the lowest percentage of population served by mental health expenditures are Hawaii (0.93%), Idaho (0.87%), and Massachusetts (0.48%), all serving less than 1% of their state’s population.

Regardless of which state you live in, if you or someone you know is in need of support or treatment for mental health issues there are resources out there to help. Learning as much as you can about available treatment centers can help make the decision to seek out help easier.

SOURCES

• https://store.samhsa.gov/system/files/sma17-5029.pdf

CAN I USE THIS INFORMATION?

The information and graphics in this blog post can be used and displayed by all commercial and non-commercial websites without charge. However, use is only permitted with proper attribution to Rehabs.com. When using this information or any of these graphics, please include a backlink to this page.