Buprenorphine Dispensing Rate Maps

Key points

  • The overall national buprenorphine dispensing rate increased slightly from 2019 to 2022, with the rate in 2022 at 4.8 buprenorphine prescriptions dispensed per 100 persons (a total of more than 16 million buprenorphine prescriptions).
  • Buprenorphine dispensing rates varied widely across the country.
  • States with the highest buprenorphine dispensing rates per 100 persons in 2022 include West Virginia (27.2), Vermont (25.5), Kentucky (23.6), and Maine (17.8).
  • States with the lowest buprenorphine dispensing rates per 100 persons in 2022 include Iowa (1.3), Texas (1.4), California (1.6), and Hawaii (1.8).

Buprenorphine data

Buprenorphine is an FDA-approved evidence-based medication used to treat opioid use disorder (OUD).1 It can be dispensed through retail pharmacies. The data in the maps show the geographic distribution in the United States of retail pharmacy dispensed buprenorphine prescriptions per 100 persons per year from 2019–2022.234

Data are displayed as maps that portray the estimated rate of buprenorphine prescriptions per 100 persons per year for each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Click on a state to reveal its buprenorphine dispensing rate or view the corresponding data table for additional information.

Note: Data updated October 2023, rates are subject to change with future data updates.

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Content Source:
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control
  1. Treating Opioid Use Disorder; What is Buprenorphine? | SAMHSA
  2. Source for all dispensing data: IQVIA Xponent 2019–2022. IQVIA Xponent is based on a sample of approximately 56,500 retail (non-hospital) pharmacies, which dispense nearly 93% of all retail prescriptions in the United States. For this database, a prescription is a new or refilled prescription dispensed at a retail pharmacy in the sample and paid for by commercial insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, cash or its equivalent, and other third-party coverage. This database does not include mail-order prescriptions. Geographic location is based on the location of the prescriber. Methadone dispensed through methadone treatment programs is not included in the IQVIA Xponent data.
  3. Buprenorphine formulations commonly prescribed for treating pain (Belbuca and Butrans) were excluded.
  4. For the calculation of dispensing rates, numerators are the projected total number of buprenorphine prescriptions dispensed annually at the state, county, or national level. Annual resident population denominators were obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau.