The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline has received more than 25 million contacts by call, text, chat and ASL videophone since its July 2022 launch (SAMHSA, 988 Lifeline Administrator Award Announcement 2026). About 7.4 million contacts were routed to its crisis contact centers in fiscal year 2025 alone, 23% more than in FY2024 (GAO, National Crisis and Support Hotlines 2026), and the call answer rate climbed from about 83% in July 2022 to about 90% in September 2025 (GAO, Capacity and Federal Assessment of the 988 Lifeline 2026). Public understanding trails usage: 74% of US adults have heard of 988 but only 29% are at least somewhat familiar with it, and 74% trust it to deliver help against 80% for 911 (NAMI/Ipsos 988 Poll 2026), a comparison that sits next to the text-to-911 and dispatch figures we track separately. We aggregated data from SAMHSA, two 2026 GAO reports, KFF, the NAMI/Ipsos polls, the FCC, the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, the VA, JAMA and Vibrant Emotional Health.
In the United States, the 988 Lifeline can be reached at any hour by calling or texting 988.
TL;DR
- More than 25 million contacts by call, text, chat and ASL videophone since the July 2022 launch (SAMHSA, 988 Lifeline Administrator Award Announcement 2026).
- 23.3 million contacts through March 2026, excluding Veterans Crisis Line transfers: 15.8 million calls, 4.2 million texts, 3.4 million chats (KFF, 988 Enters Its Fourth Year 2026).
- About 7.4 million contacts routed in FY2025, up 23% from FY2024, split 68% calls, 17% texts and 15% chats (GAO, National Crisis and Support Hotlines 2026).
- Monthly texts routed grew from 33,279 in July 2022 to 119,747 in September 2025, an increase of about 260% (GAO, Capacity and Federal Assessment of the 988 Lifeline 2026).
- Call answer rate rose from about 83% to about 90% between July 2022 and September 2025 (GAO, Capacity and Federal Assessment of the 988 Lifeline 2026).
- 26 states answered at least 90% of calls in-state in May 2026, up from 8 before launch (KFF, 988 Enters Its Fourth Year 2026).
- The Veterans Crisis Line received about 1,067,420 calls in FY2025 and answered them in an average of 8.6 seconds (GAO, National Crisis and Support Hotlines 2026).
- The LGBTQ+ youth service reached 69,571 monthly contacts in June 2025 before being discontinued on July 17, 2025 (GAO, Capacity and Federal Assessment of the 988 Lifeline 2026).
- 74% of adults have heard of 988, but only 29% are at least somewhat familiar with it (NAMI/Ipsos 988 Poll 2026).
- Federal 988 funding was set at $534.6 million for FY2026 (AFSP, Statement on FY2026 Labor-HHS Appropriations 2026), and 12 states have a dedicated 988 telecom fee (Vibrant Emotional Health, 2025 988 State Funding and Appropriations Report).
- US suicide deaths numbered 48,824 in 2024, an age-adjusted rate of 13.7 per 100,000, down from 14.1 in 2023 (CDC NCHS, Data Brief No. 572, 2026).
1. Contact Volume Since the July 2022 Launch
Demand has not plateaued. Four years in, the line is still adding volume at a double-digit annual pace, and the growth is shifting toward text. Monthly texts routed rose about 260% between July 2022 and September 2025, against about 87% for calls (GAO, Capacity and Federal Assessment of the 988 Lifeline 2026). Chats grew the least, from 75,441 to 92,936 a month, about 23%, over the same span.
The cumulative totals below are not interchangeable: SAMHSA’s headline figure counts every modality, including ASL videophone, KFF’s series excludes calls transferred to the Veterans Crisis Line, and GAO counts about 19.1 million contacts routed to crisis contact centers from July 2022 through September 2025. Read together, they describe one trend: KFF’s total went from 16.5 million through May 2025 to 23.3 million through March 2026, a difference of 6.8 million contacts (23.3 minus 16.5) in ten months.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Total contacts since launch (call, text, chat, ASL videophone) | More than 25 million | SAMHSA, 988 Lifeline Administrator Award Announcement, May 2026 |
| Contacts through March 2026, excluding Veterans Crisis Line transfers | 23.3 million (15.8 million calls, 4.2 million texts, 3.4 million chats) | KFF, 988 Enters Its Fourth Year, 2026 |
| Contacts through May 2025 | 16.5 million (11.1 million calls, 2.9 million texts, 2.4 million chats) | KFF, Demand for 988 Continues to Grow at Third Anniversary, 2025 |
| Contacts in March 2026 compared with earlier years | 15% higher than a year earlier; nearly 50% higher than two years earlier | KFF, 988 Enters Its Fourth Year, 2026 |
| Contacts routed in FY2025 and contact mix | About 7.4 million, up 23% from FY2024; 68% calls, 17% texts, 15% chats | GAO, National Crisis and Support Hotlines (GAO-26-109046), 2026 |
| Monthly calls and texts routed, July 2022 vs September 2025 | Calls 245,905 vs 460,264 (about 87% increase); texts 33,279 vs 119,747 (about 260% increase) | GAO, Capacity and Federal Assessment of the 988 Lifeline (GAO-26-108114), 2026 |
| Text messages received since July 2022, as counted in the July 2025 order | More than 2,902,182 | FCC, Fourth Report and Order (FCC 25-42), 2025 |
Context: the pre-launch baseline was 277,407 contacts in June 2022, and KFF reports that monthly contacts have consistently exceeded 600,000 over the past year. Source documents: the GAO capacity assessment and KFF’s fourth-year analysis.
2. Answer Rates and Speed to Answer
Voice performance is the stable part of the system. Calls have held near a 90% answer rate while volume nearly doubled, which means capacity was added about as fast as demand arrived. In FY2025 the average time to answer a call was about 30 seconds in every month (GAO, National Crisis and Support Hotlines 2026).
Text and chat are the volatile part. Their answer rates and wait times swing with volume spikes, and the gap between a 30-second call and a multi-minute text is the clearest operational weakness in the federal data. SAMHSA’s own near-term target reflects that: more than 90% of texts and chats routed to local centers answered locally by September 29, 2026, a goal the network administrator told GAO not every center was expected to meet.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Call answer rate, July 2022 vs September 2025 | About 83% vs about 90% | GAO, Capacity and Federal Assessment of the 988 Lifeline (GAO-26-108114), 2026 |
| Monthly answer rates in FY2025 | Calls 89-90%, texts 95-99%, chats 77-95% | GAO, National Crisis and Support Hotlines (GAO-26-109046), 2026 |
| Average time to answer, July 2022 to September 2025 | Calls 31 to 39 seconds; texts 44 seconds to more than 12 minutes; chats 27 seconds to more than 4 minutes | GAO, Capacity and Federal Assessment of the 988 Lifeline (GAO-26-108114), 2026 |
| Average time to answer in FY2025 | Calls about 30 seconds each month; texts about 1 to 9 minutes; chats about 1 to 5 minutes | GAO, National Crisis and Support Hotlines (GAO-26-109046), 2026 |
| Contacts answered vs disconnected, May 2025 | 91% answered, 9% disconnected (30% disconnected in May 2022) | KFF, Demand for 988 Continues to Grow at Third Anniversary, 2025 |
| People who contacted 988 and found it easy to get connected / reached someone without long wait times | 65% / 56% | NAMI/Ipsos 988 Poll, June 2026 |
Context: contacts that a local center does not pick up are rerouted to national backup centers after 2 minutes for calls and after 5 minutes for texts and chats (GAO, Capacity and Federal Assessment of the 988 Lifeline 2026), which is why a slow local queue shows up as a longer wait before it shows up as a lost contact. Full detail is in the GAO hotline operations review.
3. Local Answer Rates, State Variation, and Georouting
A contact answered nationally is still answered, but the design goal of 988 is a counselor who knows the caller’s local services. On that measure calls and texts are in different places. About 76% of calls were answered at local crisis contact centers between July 2022 and September 2025, while national backup centers answered about 58% of texts (GAO, Capacity and Federal Assessment of the 988 Lifeline 2026). Local text capacity is catching up quickly: the number of states and territories with local text and chat service rose from 18 to 44 over the period.
State performance still varies widely. One jurisdiction answered 62% of its calls in-state in May 2026 while two reached 99%, and the spread for texts and chats is far larger: about 6% to about 95% across states in September 2025 (GAO, Capacity and Federal Assessment of the 988 Lifeline 2026). Routing is the other half of the problem. Call georouting began in September 2024, and the FCC’s 2025 order extends it to texts, with GAO reporting an April 16, 2027 deadline for nationwide providers. It is the same location problem that 911 centers handling text and voice have worked through for years.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Share answered at local crisis contact centers | Calls about 76% (July 2022 to September 2025); texts about 5% in July 2022 vs about 43% in September 2025 | GAO, Capacity and Federal Assessment of the 988 Lifeline (GAO-26-108114), 2026 |
| States answering at least 90% of calls in-state, May 2026 | 26, up from 8 before launch | KFF, 988 Enters Its Fourth Year, 2026 |
| Range of in-state call answer rates, May 2026 | 62% (District of Columbia) to 99% (Mississippi and Rhode Island) | KFF, 988 Enters Its Fourth Year, 2026 |
| States answering at least 80% of calls in-state, May 2025 | 42, up from 23 in May 2022 | KFF, Demand for 988 Continues to Grow at Third Anniversary, 2025 |
| Share of 988 calls placed from wireless phones | 80% (Lifeline Administrator estimate) | FCC, Fourth Report and Order (FCC 25-42), 2025 |
| Text georouting implementation window | 18 months for nationwide providers, 36 months for non-nationwide providers | FCC, Fourth Report and Order (FCC 25-42), 2025 |
| Local crisis contact centers handling text messages at the time of the order | Approximately 77 | FCC, Fourth Report and Order (FCC 25-42), 2025 |
Context: GAO’s own state snapshot for September 2025 puts call answer rates at about 57% to 100%, with a median of about 88% (GAO, Capacity and Federal Assessment of the 988 Lifeline 2026), close to the KFF range above. The text order is published as FCC 25-42.
4. Veterans Crisis Line, Spanish, ASL Videophone, and the LGBTQ+ Youth Line
The specialized options inside 988 perform very differently from one another, and the Veterans Crisis Line, reached by pressing 1, is the fastest part of the network. It answered 99% of calls in FY2025 with an average speed to answer of 8.6 seconds (GAO, National Crisis and Support Hotlines 2026), on a base of more than a million calls. Responder turnover was 18% in FY2025 against 17% a year earlier, a retention pressure that is also documented for commercial contact centers. The VA’s last anniversary release counted more than 1,638,138 calls answered by the Veterans Crisis Line in the first two years after launch (VA, Veterans Crisis Line Two-Year Release 2024).
Spanish service has no national backup, since backup centers answer in English only, which helps explain why its call answer rate sits below the network average. It is the crisis-line version of the interpreter and language access gap seen in health care. The videophone service for deaf and hard of hearing users, launched in September 2023, had an average time to answer of 21 seconds in September 2025, and belongs to the service category covered in our relay and VRS roundup.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Veterans Crisis Line volume, FY2025 | About 1,067,420 calls, 101,528 texts, 104,932 chats | GAO, National Crisis and Support Hotlines (GAO-26-109046), 2026 |
| Veterans Crisis Line answer rates and call speed to answer, FY2025 | 99% calls, 98% texts, 89% chats; 8.6 seconds for calls (9.3 seconds across FY2021 to FY2024) | GAO, National Crisis and Support Hotlines (GAO-26-109046), 2026 |
| Veterans Crisis Line crisis responders | 1,162 in October 2024; 1,149 in April 2026 | GAO, National Crisis and Support Hotlines (GAO-26-109046), 2026 |
| Veterans Crisis Line calls answered via Dial 988 then Press 1, July 2022 to July 2024 | 1,179,129 | VA, Veterans Crisis Line Two-Year Release, 2024 |
| Additional calls routed from 988 to the Veterans Crisis Line since launch | 3 million | KFF, 988 Enters Its Fourth Year, 2026 (citing SAMHSA) |
| Spanish-language calls per month, July 2022 vs September 2025 | 7,899 vs 9,388; answer rate about 63% vs about 84% | GAO, Capacity and Federal Assessment of the 988 Lifeline (GAO-26-108114), 2026 |
| Videophone monthly volume, September 2023 to September 2025 | 496 to 7,086; answer rate about 95% to about 98% | GAO, Capacity and Federal Assessment of the 988 Lifeline (GAO-26-108114), 2026 |
| LGBTQ+ youth line monthly contacts, September 2022 vs June 2025 | 1,752 vs 69,571; discontinued July 17, 2025 | GAO, Capacity and Federal Assessment of the 988 Lifeline (GAO-26-108114), 2026 |
Context: the LGBTQ+ youth and young adult service is the one line that closed. It made up about 8% of all 988 contacts in June 2025, the month before it was discontinued, and GAO notes that the FY2026 appropriations explanatory statement restored its funding while SAMHSA was still working through the requirements as of March 2026. Public support for tailored services is broad: 93% of adults back specialized 988 services for veterans, 76% for Spanish speakers and 72% for LGBTQ+ youth and young adults (NAMI/Ipsos 988 Poll 2026). The VA figures come from its two-year Dial 988 then Press 1 release.
5. Public Awareness, Trust, and Barriers to Use
Name recognition has stalled at a high level while understanding stays low. Awareness was 74% in both the 2025 and 2026 polls, so the remaining gap is no longer about hearing the number, it is about knowing what happens after dialing. Only 29% of adults say they are at least somewhat familiar with 988 (NAMI/Ipsos 988 Poll 2026).
The barriers people name are concrete: cost, police involvement and involuntary hospitalization. More than half of adults worry about being charged for services they cannot pay for, and 48% worry about being forced to go to the hospital. Experience data points the other way: among people who have contacted 988, the share who say they got the help they needed rose 20 points in three years (55% in 2023 to 75% in 2026). Use is concentrated among younger adults: 9% of adults under 30 report having contacted 988, against 1% of those 65 and older.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Adults who have at least heard of 988 | 74% in June 2026; 44% in September 2022 | NAMI/Ipsos 988 Poll, June 2026 and June 2025 |
| Adults at least somewhat familiar with 988 | 29% | NAMI/Ipsos 988 Poll, June 2026 |
| Adults likely to contact 988 in a crisis | 71% | NAMI/Ipsos 988 Poll, June 2026 |
| Trust in getting needed help: 988 vs 911 | 74% vs 80% | NAMI/Ipsos 988 Poll, June 2026 |
| Adults who have contacted 988 for themselves / for someone else | 6% / 7% (both doubled since June 2023) | NAMI/Ipsos 988 Poll, June 2026 |
| People who contacted 988 and received the help they needed | 75%, up from 55% in 2023 | NAMI/Ipsos 988 Poll, June 2026 |
| Concerned about being charged / about law enforcement being sent | 54% / 52% | NAMI/Ipsos 988 Poll, June 2026 |
| Adults who know 988 is available nationwide / still federally funded | 27% / 9% | NAMI/Ipsos 988 Poll, June 2025 |
Context: the 2026 poll surveyed 2,046 US adults on June 12-14, 2026, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points. Results are published by Ipsos and in the NAMI release; the 2025 wave is on the Ipsos 2025 page.
6. Federal Funding, State Appropriations, and 988 Telecom Fees
Federal money built the network, but the recurring cost of answering locally sits with states. That split shows in the numbers: state general fund appropriations for FY25-26 are roughly the same size as the federal FY2026 line. Only 12 states have a dedicated 988 telecom fee (Vibrant Emotional Health, 2025 988 State Funding and Appropriations Report), the mechanism that most resembles how 911 is paid for.
The fees are small. Every flat-fee state in Vibrant’s list charges less than a dollar per line per month, and polling suggests little resistance: 72% of adults said they would be willing to pay a small monthly phone bill fee to fund 988 (NAMI/Ipsos 988 Poll 2025). Federal oversight capacity moved the other way in the same period. SAMHSA’s 988 and Behavioral Health Crisis Coordinating Office went from 24 staff in October 2024 to 18 in September 2025 (GAO, National Crisis and Support Hotlines 2026).
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Federal appropriation for the 988 Lifeline, FY2026 | $534.6 million | AFSP, Statement on FY2026 Labor-HHS Appropriations, 2026 |
| FY2026 funding restored for LGBTQ+ youth specialized services | $33.1 million | AFSP, Statement on FY2026 Labor-HHS Appropriations, 2026 |
| Award to Vibrant Emotional Health to administer the Lifeline | $255 million | SAMHSA, 988 Lifeline Administrator Award Announcement, May 2026 |
| 988 state and territory capacity grants | $205.8 million | HHS/SAMHSA, 988 Day Grant Awards, September 2026 |
| 988 tribal response cooperative agreements | $19.9 million | HHS/SAMHSA, 988 Day Grant Awards, September 2026 |
| State general funds appropriated for 988 operations, FY25-26 | Roughly $535.38 million (best-effort aggregate estimate) | Vibrant Emotional Health, 2025 988 State Funding and Appropriations Report |
| States with a dedicated 988 telecom fee | 12, plus the US Virgin Islands | Vibrant Emotional Health, 2025 988 State Funding and Appropriations Report |
| Flat monthly fee per line, lowest and highest listed state | $0.07 (Colorado) to $0.72 (Vermont) | Vibrant Emotional Health, 2025 988 State Funding and Appropriations Report |
Context: two fee states charge a percentage of the phone bill instead of a flat amount (Illinois 1.65%, New Mexico 1.3%), so they fall outside the range above. Sources: the Vibrant state funding report, the SAMHSA administrator award, the 988 Day grant awards and the AFSP appropriations statement.
7. The Suicide-Rate Context
Call volume is an input. The outcome the line exists to change is mortality, and here the data calls for caution. The national age-adjusted rate fell between 2023 and 2024, but NCHS describes the rate as stable from 2017 through 2024, so one year of decline does not establish a new trend. Suicide deaths totaled 48,824 in 2024, compared with 49,316 in 2023 (CDC NCHS, Data Brief No. 572, 2026).
The strongest evidence linking 988 to outcomes is a 2026 JAMA research letter on people aged 15 to 34. It found fewer deaths than pre-launch trends projected, and a larger gap in the 10 states where call uptake grew most (18.2% below expected, against 10.6% in the 10 states with the smallest increases). The authors state that the observational design cannot account for concurrent changes in mental health services, public awareness or socioeconomic conditions.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Suicide deaths, 2024 vs 2023 | 48,824 vs 49,316 | CDC NCHS, Data Brief No. 572, 2026 |
| Age-adjusted suicide rate per 100,000, 2024 vs 2023 | 13.7 vs 14.1 (decrease significant at p < 0.05) | CDC NCHS, Data Brief No. 572, 2026 |
| Age-adjusted rate by sex, 2024 | Males 22.3; females 5.6 | CDC NCHS, Data Brief No. 572, 2026 |
| Highest rate by age and sex, 2024 | Men aged 75 and older: 40.1 per 100,000 | CDC NCHS, Data Brief No. 572, 2026 |
| Highest and lowest state rates, 2024 | Alaska 29.7; District of Columbia 5.7 | CDC NCHS, Data Brief No. 572, 2026 |
| Suicide deaths, 2014 to 2024 | 516,790 | KFF, 988 Enters Its Fourth Year, 2026 |
| Suicides among ages 15-34, July 2022 to December 2024: observed vs expected | 35,529 vs 39,901 (95% CI, 38,924-40,878) | Patel, Liu and Jena, JAMA, 2026 |
| Difference from expected among ages 15-34 | 11.0% lower (95% CI, 8.7%-13.1%); 4,372 fewer deaths | Patel, Liu and Jena, JAMA, 2026 |
Context: the scale of need behind the call volume is large. An estimated 14.3 million adults had serious thoughts of suicide in the past year, according to the national survey figures SAMHSA cited in its May 2026 announcement. Primary documents: NCHS Data Brief No. 572 and the JAMA research letter.
Summary: 988 Crisis Lifeline Call Volume by the Numbers
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Total contacts since July 2022 launch | More than 25 million | SAMHSA, 988 Lifeline Administrator Award Announcement, May 2026 |
| Contacts through March 2026, excluding Veterans Crisis Line transfers | 23.3 million | KFF, 988 Enters Its Fourth Year, 2026 |
| Contacts routed in FY2025 and contact mix | About 7.4 million, up 23% from FY2024; 68% calls, 17% texts, 15% chats | GAO-26-109046, 2026 |
| Growth in monthly contacts routed, July 2022 to September 2025 | Calls about 87%; texts about 260% | GAO-26-108114, 2026 |
| Contacts answered vs disconnected, May 2025 | 91% answered, 9% disconnected | KFF, Demand for 988 Continues to Grow at Third Anniversary, 2025 |
| Average time to answer calls in FY2025 | About 30 seconds each month | GAO-26-109046, 2026 |
| In-state call answering, May 2026 | 26 states at 90% or more; range 62% to 99% | KFF, 988 Enters Its Fourth Year, 2026 |
| Veterans Crisis Line calls, FY2025 | About 1,067,420, answered in 8.6 seconds on average | GAO-26-109046, 2026 |
| LGBTQ+ youth line monthly contacts at closure | 69,571 in June 2025; discontinued July 17, 2025 | GAO-26-108114, 2026 |
| Text georouting window | 18 months nationwide, 36 months non-nationwide providers | FCC 25-42, 2025 |
| Adults who have heard of 988 / are at least somewhat familiar with it | 74% / 29% | NAMI/Ipsos 988 Poll, June 2026 |
| Federal 988 appropriation, FY2026 | $534.6 million | AFSP, Statement on FY2026 Labor-HHS Appropriations, 2026 |
| Award to administer the Lifeline | $255 million | SAMHSA, 988 Lifeline Administrator Award Announcement, May 2026 |
| 988 state and territory capacity grants | $205.8 million | HHS/SAMHSA, 988 Day Grant Awards, September 2026 |
| States with a dedicated 988 telecom fee | 12 | Vibrant Emotional Health, 2025 988 State Funding and Appropriations Report |
| State general funds appropriated for 988 operations, FY25-26 | Roughly $535.38 million | Vibrant Emotional Health, 2025 988 State Funding and Appropriations Report |
| Suicide deaths in 2024 | 48,824 (age-adjusted rate 13.7 per 100,000) | CDC NCHS, Data Brief No. 572, 2026 |
| Suicides among ages 15-34 vs expected after launch | 11.0% lower (95% CI, 8.7%-13.1%) | Patel, Liu and Jena, JAMA, 2026 |
Methodology and Sources
We compiled this roundup on October 11, 2026 from federal audits, agency announcements, peer-reviewed research and named polls. Every figure was read in the source document or in a named analysis of it, and each row carries its source and year. Figures are reported as the source states them, including qualifiers such as “about” and “more than”.
- GAO, Suicide Prevention: Capacity and Federal Assessment of the 988 Lifeline (GAO-26-108114), July 2026: routed contacts, answer rates, time to answer, local versus backup answering, Spanish, videophone and LGBTQ+ youth service data, July 2022 to September 2025.
- GAO, National Crisis and Support Hotlines (GAO-26-109046), August 2026: FY2025 volumes and performance for the 988 Lifeline and the Veterans Crisis Line, plus staffing.
- SAMHSA, 988 Lifeline Performance Metrics: the underlying monthly dataset used by GAO and KFF, last updated September 16, 2026.
- SAMHSA, award to administer the 988 Lifeline, May 15, 2026 and HHS/SAMHSA, 988 Day grant awards, September 8, 2026.
- KFF, 988 Enters Its Fourth Year, July 2026 and KFF, Demand for 988 Continues to Grow at Third Anniversary, July 2025: cumulative totals, in-state answer rates and suicide death totals based on SAMHSA, Lifeline and CDC data.
- NAMI/Ipsos 988 Poll, June 2026, with the NAMI release, and the June 2025 wave (2,022 adults).
- FCC, Fourth Report and Order, FCC 25-42, adopted July 24, 2025: text georouting rules and wireless share of calls.
- Vibrant Emotional Health, 2025 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline State Funding and Appropriations Report: state appropriations and telecom fees.
- AFSP, statement on the FY2026 Labor-HHS appropriations law, February 4, 2026: enacted FY2026 funding levels. AFSP is an advocacy organization reporting the figures in the enacted law.
- CDC NCHS, Data Brief No. 572, Changes in Suicide Rates in the United States From 2023 to 2024, September 2026.
- Patel VR, Liu M, Jena AB. Suicide Mortality Among Adolescents and Young Adults After Launch of a Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. JAMA, 2026.
- VA, Two Years Since Launch of Dial 988 then Press 1, July 16, 2024.
- Data watch: cumulative totals differ by definition and cutoff. SAMHSA’s “more than 25 million” (May 2026) includes ASL videophone; KFF’s 23.3 million runs through March 2026 and excludes calls routed to the Veterans Crisis Line (an additional 3 million since launch, per KFF); GAO’s 19.1 million counts contacts routed through September 2025. These should not be added together. The LGBTQ+ youth line’s share is about 8% of contacts in June 2025 per GAO and 10% per KFF. KFF’s fourth-year text dates the in-state answer rates to May 2026 while its chart caption reads May 2025; we follow the text. The Ipsos 2026 summary cites 18% awareness before launch, while the 2025 wave reports 44% in September 2022; we use the dated 2022 figure. The Vibrant report lists New Mexico’s fee as 1.3% of the bill in its table and 1.66% in the state text, and labels its state general fund total a best-effort estimate. We could not extract SAMHSA’s monthly dashboard values or the Lifeline’s state-based monthly PDFs in machine-readable form, so month-level figures after March 2026 and state-by-state tables are not included. The VA anniversary figures are from 2024; FY2025 Veterans Crisis Line data comes from GAO. CDC final 2025 suicide data is not yet published.
Last updated: October 11, 2026. We update this roundup quarterly, and the next refresh is expected when SAMHSA posts its next monthly 988 Lifeline Performance Metrics update and the Lifeline publishes its October 2026 state-based monthly reports.