The fentanyl crisis in the United States is a profound tragedy that touches every corner of our country. This project began from a personal need to understand the scale of this epidemic. I had heard how devastating fentanyl was, but I didn't know if the situation was improving or worsening, or how it impacted different states on a per-capita basis.
Upon searching for answers, I found it difficult to find granular, state-level, month-by-month cleaned data from a single official source. While there are excellent local dashboards, a comprehensive national view that is both accessible and regularly updated was not easily available. This project is a serious effort to provide that clarity.
A Note on the Data: We must never lose sight of the fact that every statistic in these datasets represents a human life lost too soon. Each death is a heartbreak for families, friends, and communities. We hope that by providing accurate, refreshing information, we can contribute to getting this crisis under control so that our loved ones are not taken from us too early.
- 📊 Ready-to-use CSV file: Clean, validated fentanyl death data (1999-current)
- Interactive Data Portal: Browse, filter, and export data directly from your browser
- 📚 Live Documentation: Complete pipeline and data lineage docs updated weekly
- 🔄 Automated Updates: Fresh data published every Monday at 12:00 PM UTC
- 📈 Easy Access: Download CSV, explore online, or analyze with your preferred tool
Want to modify or run the pipeline? See data_engineering/ for complete technical documentation, setup instructions, and architecture details.
Need the data without technical setup? Use our Interactive Data Explorer to browse the data or download fact_fentanyl_deaths_over_time.csv.
Explore the data online or download for use in Excel, R, or Python. Interactive documentation and data portal available at: https://data-science-link.github.io/fentanyl-awareness/
- 🌐 Data Portal: https://data-science-link.github.io/fentanyl-awareness/
- 📁 Download Data:
Final_Datasets/fact_fentanyl_deaths_over_time.csv - 🏗️ Explore Code: https://github.com/Data-Science-Link/fentanyl-awareness
- 💻 Frontend Source:
website/
The CSV includes:
- Time Range: 1999 - current
- Geographic Level: State-level
- Metrics: Death counts, population data, income, unemployment rates
- Sources: Official CDC mortality data (1999-2023) + provisional data (2018-current)
See Final_Datasets/README.md for the complete data dictionary.
This repository automatically:
- Processes CDC SODA API mortality data and US Census demographics
- Validates and tests the data using automated checks
- Updates the CSV, interactive portal, and documentation every Monday
Everything runs on GitHub Actions - no manual intervention needed.
- ✅ Automated Testing: Every code change is automatically tested
- 🔒 Security Scanning: Code and dependencies scanned weekly for vulnerabilities
- 📝 Full History: Git maintains complete history of all data changes
- 🔄 Automatic Updates: Fresh data published every week
This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.
- CDC WONDER: For providing comprehensive mortality data
- US Census Bureau: For population and economic data
- GitHub: For hosting and automation infrastructure
Note: This data is for educational and awareness purposes. Always verify data accuracy and consult official sources for policy decisions.