Ohio ranks in top quartile for mental health, new report finds

Ohio ranked 12th among U.S. states and the District of Columbia across common measures of mental health (Source: “2025 mental health rankings: How does Ohio compare to other states?,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, Oct. 28).
 
State of Mental Health in America 2025, produced by the nonprofit Mental Health America, looked at the latest national data on depression, suicidal thoughts and substance use disorder among Americans to provide state rankings.
 
States with a lower prevalence of mental health issues among their adult and youth residents were ranked high, while states with more behavioral health issues among their residents ranked low in the State of Mental Health report.
 
The top state for mental health was New York, followed by Hawaii (2), New Jersey (3), Vermont (4), and Iowa (5) the report said. States ranking the worst for mental health included Idaho (48), Alabama (49), Arizona (50) and Nevada (51). When looking at Ohio and its contiguous states, Pennsylvania had the most positive behavioral health outcomes (7), followed by Michigan (13), Indiana (14), Kentucky (25) and West Virginia (46).
 
According to this year’s report, people in the South and states with more rural populations continue to face the greatest gaps in access to mental health care, the nonprofit said. For instance, nearly 20% of adults with any mental illness in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Texas were uninsured in 2022 and 2023, compared to only 4% in Vermont, Maryland and Rhode Island.