--- title: Opioids: CDC Releases Map of Most-Prescribed Counties description: Opioid prescriptions in the United States vary widely by county canonical: https://time.com/4847051/opioid-prescription-united-states-cdc/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-07-06T17:22:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:58:42.331Z article:section: Health og:title: These Counties Have the Most Opioid Prescriptions in the U.S. og:description: Whiter counties tend to have higher prescription rates og:url: https://time.com/4847051/opioid-prescription-united-states-cdc/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt50a0042625dc2383/6988d4ae0a4a2234209cef13/opioid-prescription-cdc.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5119 og:image:height: 2879 og:image:alt: Close up of man filling out prescription og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: These Counties Have the Most Opioid Prescriptions in the U.S. twitter:description: Whiter counties tend to have higher prescription rates twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt50a0042625dc2383/6988d4ae0a4a2234209cef13/opioid-prescription-cdc.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # These Counties Have the Most Opioid Prescriptions in the U.S. > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=65b6bc3d-c735-451d-9859-f26280c64387&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Jul 6, 2017 5:22 PM UTC  Close up of man filling out prescription Close up of man filling out prescription JGI—Getty Images/Blend Images by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Jul 6, 2017 5:22 PM UTC [Opioid prescriptions](http://time.com/4812756/fda-wants-opioid-drug-opana-pulled/) in the United States vary widely from county to county, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC’s Vital Signs report, published on Thursday, found that in 2015, 6 times more opioids per resident were doled out in counties with the highest prescribing rates than in the lowest-prescribing counties. Such a wide variation suggests doctors do not have consistent prescribing habits and that patients receive different care depending on where they live, according to the report. Through analysis of county-level prescribing patterns in 2010 and 2015, CDC researchers found that higher amounts of opioids were prescribed in counties that included a larger number of white residents, more dentists and primary care physicians, a higher prevalence of diabetes and arthritis and higher unemployment. The counties also encompassed micropolitan areas, or smaller cities. Check out the map below to see the prescription variation.  CDC Vital Signs The map shows that several counties where the highest numbers of prescribed morphine milligram equivalents per person, which are the amount of opioids in milligrams, are located next to counties with the least amount of milligrams prescribed. Counties with the highest milligrams prescribed per person in 2015 — between 959 and 5,543 morphine milligram equivalents — were scattered throughout the country, and formed clusters in areas, such as northern California, southern Nevada and parts of Tennessee going into Kentucky and West Virginia. Counties with the least morphine milligram equivalents — between 0.1 and 453 per person — had a larger concentration in western and southern Texas and parts of the midwest. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4847051/opioid-prescription-united-states-cdc/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4847051/opioid-prescription-united-states-cdc/"},"headline":"These Counties Have the Most Opioid Prescriptions in the U.S.","datePublished":"2017-07-06T17:22:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:58:42.331Z","description":"Doctors are not consistent about opioid prescriptions","url":"https://time.com/4847051/opioid-prescription-united-states-cdc/","keywords":["opioids","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt50a0042625dc2383/6988d4ae0a4a2234209cef13/opioid-prescription-cdc.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt50a0042625dc2383/6988d4ae0a4a2234209cef13/opioid-prescription-cdc.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Close up of man filling out prescription","caption":"Close up of man filling out prescription","creditText":"JGI—Getty Images/Blend Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/opioids/","name":"opioids"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4847051/opioid-prescription-united-states-cdc/","name":"These Counties Have the Most Opioid Prescriptions in the U.S."}}]}] ```