NYC Overdose Statistics — 2024 Full Year + 2025 Provisional

NYC recorded 2,192 unintentional drug poisoning deaths in 2024 per provisional data from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Bureau of Vital Statistics — down 28% from 3,056 in 2023. Decreases occurred across all five boroughs and, for the first time since 2018, among Black and Latino New Yorkers. Significant racial and geographic inequities persist.

The DOHMH Q1 2025 Provisional Overdose Report (February 2026) recorded 441 confirmed overdose deaths in the first quarter of 2025. These figures are subject to upward revision as OCME completes pending death determinations. The report emphasizes: "Every five hours, someone dies of a drug overdose in NYC."

Fentanyl remained the most commonly detected substance in NYC overdose deaths in Q1 2025. Opioids were involved in approximately 73% of all overdose deaths. Xylazine — the veterinary sedative also known as "tranq" — now appears in roughly 21% of fentanyl-positive OD deaths (DOHMH Data Brief No. 150, Oct 2025). DOHMH has also issued Health Advisories in 2024–2025 documenting medetomidine, bromazolam, and carfentanil in the NYC drug supply.

Highest rates of overdose death by neighborhood of residence continue to cluster in the Bronx, Upper Manhattan, and Central Brooklyn. At the borough level, the Bronx has the highest age-adjusted rate at approximately 78.0 per 100,000 residents. Approximately 70% of overdose deaths occur inside a residence — a statistic that drives much of NYC's Never Use Alone and overdose prevention center policy.

NYC is home to the nation's first two publicly recognized Overdose Prevention Centers (OPCs), operating at 360 W. 125th St (Harlem) and 126 E. 174th St (Bronx). In FY 2025, syringe service programs operating OPCs provided approximately 39,000 harm reduction services to more than 8,000 participants, with staff intervening more than 1,000 times to prevent overdose-related injury or death. NYC also distributes free fentanyl and xylazine test strips through syringe service programs citywide.

Lower overdose deaths don't mean the crisis is over — they reflect expanded naloxone distribution, the buprenorphine-in-primary-care expansion, and infrastructure investment. At the individual level, NYC's contaminated drug supply continues to make any non-pharmaceutical opioid extremely high-risk. Inpatient treatment followed by long-term MAT remains the intervention with the strongest evidence base for reducing individual overdose risk. Placement advisors at (347) 741-7043 can connect callers with licensed inpatient programs 24/7.