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Data & Dashboards

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The Office of Suicide Prevention utilizes suicide and self-harm injury data to guide strategic priorities and support local public health efforts. Below are data dashboards and data briefs to inform your suicide prevention activities.​

Data Dashboards

• California Violent Death Reporting System (CalVDRS)​​ | Combines data from vital records, law enforcement, and coroners/medical examiners to provide a detailed view of violent deaths, including suicides and homicides, helping inform prevention strategies and strengthen crisis response. For more information, visit the CalVDRS webpage. 

• Epi Center: California Injury Data Online | An interactive tool that provides California injury data (deaths, hospitalizations, and emergency department visits) with customizable tables, trend graphs, and reports to support data-driven prevention. Searches are customizable with respect to time frame (year, month, and day of the week), county, and demographics (age, sex, and race/ethnicity).​
  

Data Briefs on Suicide and Self Harm

Data briefs provided below are specific to California and designed to support program planning and further analytical work. ​​
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California Suicide and Mental Health Trends

Surveillance of suicide is done using vital statistics data. The most up-to-date data tables for violence-related causes of death, including suicide, are available from the California Health and Human Services Agency (CalHHS), to learn more visit CalHHS Statewide Death Profiles​. These data tables contain provisional monthly counts of deaths using preliminary vital statistics data. Final data tables are also available that differ from the provisional/preliminary ones. Final data tables include confirmed causes of death and deaths among California residents that did not occur in California. Under typical circumstances, it may take several months for a death to be confirmed as suicide.

The provisional data tables show monthly counts of deaths based on preliminary vital statistics. They are released to provide recent snapshots of death trends but, due to the timeliness of the reporting, are to be considered incomplete. Final death data tables are also available, typically released several months to a year later. They differ in that they include the most complete data on confirmed causes of death and also deaths of California residents that occurred outside the state. The final data is considered more accurate, particularly for suicide deaths, since it may take several months for a death to be officially confirmed as a suicide.

A secondary source for preliminary death data of any kind, including suicide, is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s WONDER Mortality Data Dashboard. The preliminary data used in WONDER follow the same limitations as CalHHS data, and it may take several months for causes of death to be fully investigated and confirmed.

The Injury and Violence Prevention Branch does not directly monitor mental health across the state. Information on mental health status, perceived need, and access to care among adults and teens is available through: 

California Department of Public Health Violence-Related Reports and Resources​

• Violence Prevention Initiative (VPI) Reports and Documents | Provides reports and materials focused on preventing violence and promoting safe, healthy communities in California. 

• Essentials for Childhood (EfC) Initiative Resources | Offers tools and resources to promote safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments for children and families. 

• California Pregnancy – Associated Mortality Review | Summarizes data and insights on suicide during pregnancy to inform prevention strategies and improve maternal health outcomes. 

• California Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health (MCAH) Youth Suicide Deaths Dashboard​​ | State-level data from 2010–2023 on youth suicides (ages 15–24), including breakdowns by age, sex, race/ethnicity, and county, with downloadable datasets.​​​​