COVID-19 Death Rates By Region

COVID-19 death rates in the U.S. over the course of the pandemic have varied from region to region by a factor of more than three between the places with the lowest and highest rate of COVID-19 deaths.

The Main Trends

COVID-19 deaths rates in the U.S. are a function of two main factors: (1) the proportion of the population that is old, and (2) the levels of vaccination and other precautions taken, which correlates strongly with partisan leaning. Republican leaning places had much higher COVID-19 death rates controlling for age than Democratic leaning places. 

Possible Secondary Factors

It isn't clear that this partisan effect was true for Mormon Republicans, however. Mormons have more kids at younger ages than the rest of the U.S. population which reduces the percentage of this demographic that is old, and is also more educated on average than Republicans elsewhere in the United States. 

But, it isn't clear that education is that strong a factor, because, for example, Kansas is another pool of highly educated Republicans compared to the national average and had much higher COVID-19 death rates than Utah where Mormons predominate.

Black and Native American Democrats also high higher rates of COVID-19 death than Democrats as a whole, at least in some regions.