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Every county in Maine reported an increase in overdose deaths since 2019

March 5, 2023

Governor Janet Mills noted the overdoses have hit “every corner of our state — rural and urban.”

With the number of drug overdose deaths in Maine hitting a record high in 2022, the Data Monitor team at The Maine Monitor dug into those numbers at the county level.

A February report released by the Maine Attorney General’s Office noted 10,110 overdoses were reported in Maine in 2022, including 716 suspected or confirmed deaths.

Five Maine counties showed a drop in fatal overdoses between 2021 and 2022: Lincoln, Kennebec, Piscataquis, Washington, and Penobscot.

However, every county reported an increase in overdose deaths since 2019.

Waldo County, for example, saw a 600% increase from 3 deaths in 2019 to 21 deaths this past year. Oxford County recorded a 300% increase from 9 to 36. Penobscot County doubled from 53 to 106 in the same time period.

Fatal overdoses exceeded 100 deaths in Cumberland, Penobscot, and York counties last year, the most populated in Maine. Each of those counties showed sizable increases since 2019.

Manyun Zou

Manyun Zou is a graduate student at majoring in applied quantitative methods and social analysis at Northeastern University. She was previously a data reporter in China covering business, gender, and government policies. Her work has also appeared in National Geographic, The Washingtonian, and The Pudding. Manyun is a cat and coffee addict.