Drug Addiction
Crisis,
Block by Block

Mapping overdose, resource gaps, and survival across Boston's neighborhoods — 2015 to 2025

~3,000
EMS calls · Boston 2023
214
fatal overdoses · 2023
38%
drop in deaths · 2024
↓ scroll to explore
Chapter 1 · The Scale of the Crisis
2,357
opioid-related overdose deaths in Massachusetts in 2022 — a record high
Source: Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Opioid-Related Overdose Deaths Report 2024
Chapter 2 · The Map

Boston's Overdose Geography

Click any Boston neighborhood to see real overdose data, resource access grade, and trend over time.

Layers

Overdose density
Very high
High
Moderate
Low
2025
↖
Click a neighborhood on the map to explore its overdose data, resource access grade, and trend over time.
Chapter 3 · The Equity Gap

Two people overdose.
Same city. Different chances.

Real data from BPHC Health of Boston 2024 · Census ACS 2023 · MA DPH

MA statewide opioid overdose deaths 2015–2024 · MA DPH

Source: MA DPH Opioid Overdose Deaths Reports 2015–2024. 2024 figure is provisional.

Boston EMS narcotic incidents vs. Narcan doses distributed · BPHC

Source: BPHC Annual Reports 2015–2024 · Boston EMS Narcotic Related Incidents data.

Boston hospital patient encounters per 10,000 residents · BPHC 2024

Source: BPHC Health of Boston 2024 · Acute Hospital Case Mix Database · CHIA 2017–2021.

Substance use mortality by neighborhood · BPHC 2017–2022

Median income vs. overdose concentration · Census ACS 2023

Low income · high overdoseHigh income · low overdose
Sources: BPHC Health of Boston 2024 Table 1 · U.S. Census ACS 5-Year Estimates 2023.
Chapter 4 · Hope

The story doesn't end with crisis.

It closes with what has actually worked — and how many lives have been saved.

10,000
lives saved by Narcan in Boston since 2016  ·  38% drop in overdose deaths in 2024 — the lowest since 2015

Naloxone doses distributed by BPHC per year · Boston Public Health Commission

Source: BPHC Recovery Services Annual Reports 2016–2024. 23,000+ doses distributed in 2024.

Narcan expansion

23,000+ naloxone doses distributed by BPHC in 2024. Sites more than doubled from 2016 to 2022. Naloxone administered in 97% of acute opioid overdoses treated by EMS in 2023.

Racial equity progress

In 2024, overdose deaths fell 59% for Black men and 52% for Latino men. Black and Latinx residents saw a 58% and 48% decrease respectively.

2024 milestone

Massachusetts recorded ~1,341 opioid-related overdose deaths in 2024 — a 36% drop from 2023 and the lowest number since 2015. The largest single-year decline in two decades.

The story we are telling

Two people overdose in Boston
at the same moment.
Their chances are not the same.

But it does not have to stay that way.

The Scale
The Map
The Equity Gap
Hope