Health, broadly defined, encompasses many of the categories on this site. To understand the health of the residents in the two counties, an understanding of the complex social determinants of health across the life course is necessary. These include the economic, geographic, educational, environmental, behavioral, and genetic factors that can and do impact an individual’s health outcomes. For this particular category, most of the indicators refer to classic population health metrics. These include vital statistics, behaviors, access or lack of access to health care (i.e. population with/without health insurance), and measures of physical, mental, and oral health. Some operational trends about health care providers are also included. Most of the indicators are benchmarked to the state and many to the U.S.
A full definition of each indicator, as well as its relevance to the two counties, can be found in the More Information section. The data are available in a spreadsheet via the Download Data tab.
