High blood pressure made people more vulnerable to COVID-19.

Some epidemiologists suggested that the pandemic could increase people's blood pressure, by damaging people's blood vessels.

The new, relatively low blood pressure figures could be a sign that speculation was incorrect.

It's also possible that awareness of hypertension is falling because, due to the impact of the pandemic, fewer people are getting basic primary care.

At the state level, reported hypertension levels ranged from less than 23%, in Wyoming, up to more than 25%, in two states.

For a look at the five states with the highest high blood pressure rates for working-age adults, see the gallery above.

For data for all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, see the table below.

Methods: The CDC breaks blood pressure data down for people under 18, people ages 65 and older, and four age groups from 18 through 64.

We came up with a high blood pressure prevalence rate for the working-age population by averaging the data for the age groups in that age range.

One benefit of using that approach is that it filters out the effects of the aging of the population, or other population trends, in a given state.

At press time, the CDC had not included data from Kentucky and Pennsylvania in the 2023 BRFSS results.

The impact: About half of all U.S. adults have high blood pressure, and high blood pressure caused or contributed to 685,875 deaths in 2022, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

High blood pressure hits the United States with about $68 billion in direct medical costs per year, and it causes about $42 billion per year in indirect costs, through effects such as lost productivity, the American Heart Association reports.

A team led by a CDC research reported in 2022, based on an analysis of existing research, that the cost of hypertension-related absenteeism and presenteeism could be $2,362 per affected employee per year.