NPR spent 2 years tracking deaths from heat. We found a staggering hidden toll

An NPR investigation found that people in the U.S. are dying from heat much more often than official counts show. We explore the reasons why — and how lives can be saved.

<img src='https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5333x3000+0+0/resize/5333x3000!/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F64%2F14%2Fb60564aa4f3b90c32623b2f44d86%2F2026-08-heatdeathsdata-final.jpg' alt='undefined'/><p>An NPR investigation found that people in the U.S. are dying from heat much more often than official counts show. We explore the reasons why — and how lives can be saved.</p><img src='https://media.npr.org/include/images/tracking/npr-rss-pixel.png?story=nx-s1-5724225' />