Fewer American teenagers are reporting persistent sadness or hopelessness than at any point since the pandemic peaked, according to newly released federal survey data, though researchers caution the improvement isn't reaching every group of students equally. Thirty-three percent of high school students said they experienced persistent sadness or hopelessness in the past year, down from a peak of 42 percent in 2021. Suicidal thinking has fallen too, with 14 percent of teens saying they seriously considered attempting suicide, down from 22 percent in 2021.
The numbers come from the CDC's Youth Risk Behavior Survey, a nationally representative poll of U.S. high schoolers that has run every two years since 1991, as reported by The New York Times. The 2025 edition drew more than 10,700 respondents, according to Education Week. Even with the improvement, the Times notes that many teenagers, especially girls and teens who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual, are still struggling more than their peers.
Suicide Risk Indicators Fall Across the Board
Education Week's analysis found that several suicide-risk measures dropped between 2023 and 2025: serious consideration of suicide fell from 20 percent to 14 percent, having a suicide plan fell from 16 percent to 12 percent, suicide attempts dropped from 9 percent to 6 percent, and medically treated suicide-related injuries fell from 2 percent to 1 percent. The outlet also found that reports of poor mental health fell to 23 percent in 2025, down from 29 percent in both 2021 and 2023.
There's a wrinkle in exactly how far back the improvement stretches. Stateline reports that the share of students describing persistent sadness or hopelessness dropped to 33 percent in 2025 from 40 percent in 2023 and 42 percent in 2021 — a steady two-survey decline. The Times, however, frames the same 33 percent 2025 figure only against the 2021 peak, without citing a 2023 midpoint. Either way, the trend line points down from the pandemic-era high. Education Week adds useful historical context, too: the 2025 sadness figure of 33 percent is still higher than the 31.5 percent recorded in 2017, though below the 37 percent seen in 2019.
Girls and LGBTQ+ Teens Still Report Worse Outcomes
Even as the topline numbers improve, the gap between male and female students remains wide. According to Stateline, 43 percent of female students reported persistent sadness or hopelessness in 2025, compared with 24 percent of male students, and female students continued to report higher rates of both mental-health and suicide risk than their male classmates.
Separate data from the Trevor Project's 2023 survey of more than 28,000 LGBTQ young people ages 13 to 24 illustrates a similarly stark divide. Forty-one percent of LGBTQ young people said they seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year, including about half of transgender and nonbinary respondents, and 14 percent said they attempted suicide, including nearly one in five transgender and nonbinary respondents. The same survey found 67 percent reported anxiety symptoms and 54 percent reported depression symptoms.
Access to care appears to be a major sticking point. The Trevor Project survey found that 81 percent of LGBTQ young people wanted mental-health care, but 56 percent of those who wanted it in the past year were unable to get it. The organization also found that 24 percent of LGBTQ young people said they'd been physically threatened or harmed in the past year because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, and 60 percent said they had felt discriminated against for the same reasons.
A Boston Doctor's Concerning Counterpoint
Not every indicator is trending in the same direction. In a report from WCVB Boston, Dr. Chase Samsel of Boston Children's Hospital pointed to a 30 percent jump in suicide attempts by self-poisoning among children ages 10 to 19. Samsel highlighted an even sharper rise among the youngest kids in that range: a 73 percent increase in self-poisoning suicide attempts among children ages 10 to 12.
That trend underscores why researchers and clinicians are urging caution before declaring victory on teen mental health. The broad national gains captured in the CDC survey coexist with pockets of worsening risk among younger children and continued struggle among girls and LGBTQ+ teens, a pattern that suggests progress has been uneven rather than universal.
