health_substance_use_county_year
Substance use and addiction indicators by county. CDC opioid dispensing rate, CDC PLACES drug overdose mortality, and CDC WONDER alcohol-induced death rate.
overview
9,946 county-year rows. Opioid dispensing complete; PLACES universal; WONDER alcohol subject to suppression.
current vintage — Opioid dispensing 2023; PLACES 2025; WONDER alcohol 2018-2024 pooled
history — Opioid dispensing: 2006-present; PLACES: 2020-present; WONDER: 1999-present
source & licensing
fields
| name | type | definition |
|---|---|---|
| _ingested_at | timestamp | Timestamp when this record was written to BigQuery.Pipeline metadata field. |
| _reliability_tier | string | Data quality tier (A/B/C) assigned at ingestion.Pipeline metadata field. |
| alcohol_deaths_pooled | int64 · count | Pooled count of alcohol-related deaths, typically aggregated across multiple years to stabilize estimates in small counties. Higher values reflect greater cumulative alcohol mortality. |
| alcohol_mortality_per_100k | float64 · rate per 100k | Age-adjusted mortality rate attributable to alcohol use disorders and alcohol-related causes per 100,000 county residents. Higher values indicate greater alcohol-related mortality burden. |
| country_id | string | ISO alpha-2 country code (always 'US' for domestic tables). |
| county_idkey | string | 5-character FIPS code identifying the county.Joins dim.counties on county_id. |
| opioid_dispensing_rate | float64 · rate per 100 persons | Number of retail opioid prescriptions dispensed per 100 county residents in a given year. Higher values indicate greater opioid prescribing activity in the county. |
| pct_adults_binge_drinking | float64 · percent (0–100) | Estimated percentage of adults who report binge drinking (defined as 4+ drinks on one occasion for women, 5+ for men) in the past 30 days. Higher values indicate higher prevalence of heavy episodic alcohol consumption. |
| rate_band | string | Categorical label grouping the opioid dispensing rate into a predefined range band (e.g., 'low', 'medium', 'high'). Used to summarize rate variation across counties without exposing suppressed cell counts. |
| state_id | string | 2-character FIPS code identifying the state.Joins dim.states on state_id. |
| yearkey | int64 | Reference year of the observation. |
joins
how to use this table
Opioid dispensing rate per 100 from IQVIA Xponent (county). PLACES drug overdose mortality is modeled BRFSS proxy. CDC WONDER alcohol-induced from death certificates.
Illicit drug use (dispensing measures Rx only); causal claims about prescribing -> mortality; single-year change in small counties.
Opioid dispensing peaked ~2012 then declined; current low rates may reflect undertreatment, not lower addiction.