Health-Related Social Needs Among Adults

BRFSS survey year the estimate is modeled from, as CDC serves it (2023 for every measure). Every row is from CDC's 2025 PLACES release and each measure has one year (see year_meaning).

5-digit county FIPS code (FK to the counties dimension), set on county rows. NULL on tract rows: the tracts dimension gives each tract's county.

11-digit 2020 census tract GEOID (FK to the tracts dimension), set on tract rows. NULL on county rows. The 12 special-use and water tracts of the dimension have no estimates.

PLACES measure in CDC's Health-Related Social Needs category (CDC's measureid and full measure name, which names the adults the share is of, in parentheses): lack_of_social_emotional_support (EMOTIONSPT: Lack of social and emotional support among adults; BRFSS 2023); food_insecurity (FOODINSECU: Food insecurity in the past 12 months among adults; BRFSS 2023); received_food_stamps (FOODSTAMP: Received food stamps in the past 12 months among adults; BRFSS 2023); housing_insecurity (HOUSINSECU: Housing insecurity in the past 12 months among adults; BRFSS 2023); lack_of_reliable_transportation (LACKTRPT: Lack of reliable transportation in the past 12 months among adults; BRFSS 2023); loneliness (LONELINESS: Loneliness among adults; BRFSS 2023); utility_shutoff_threat (SHUTUTILITY: Utility services shut-off threat in the past 12 months among adults; BRFSS 2023). Every measure rests on BRFSS respondents' own answers; CDC's measure definitions: https://www.cdc.gov/places/measure-definitions/index.html. No total value: pick one measure; measures never add: one adult can count in several, even though every measure covers the same adults (all adults 18 and older). Definitions: lack_of_social_emotional_support: adults who say they sometimes, rarely or never get the social and emotional support they need, of all adults (current, not a past-year window; 'sometimes' counts, so the share is large). food_insecurity: adults who say the food they bought always, usually or sometimes did not last and they had no money to get more, in the past 12 months, of all adults. One survey question, not the U.S. Department of Agriculture's household food security scale, so it does not match USDA's food insecurity rates. received_food_stamps: adults who say they received food stamps (SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, on an EBT card) in the past 12 months, of all adults. Help received, a marker of low income, not an unmet need; a self-report, so it does not match SNAP program counts. housing_insecurity: adults who say they were not able to pay their mortgage, rent or utility bills at some time in the past 12 months, of all adults. CDC notes it is not a full measure of housing instability: it leaves out housing quality, crowding, safety and frequent moves. lack_of_reliable_transportation: adults who say a lack of reliable transportation kept them from medical appointments, meetings, work or getting things needed for daily living in the past 12 months, of all adults. loneliness: adults who say they always, usually or sometimes feel lonely, of all adults (current, not a past-year window; 'sometimes' counts, so the share is large). utility_shutoff_threat: adults who say an electric, gas, oil or water company threatened to shut off their service at some time in the past 12 months, of all adults.

Crude prevalence: CDC PLACES' model-based estimate of the share of adults in the county or tract with the measure, among the adults the measure covers (every measure counts adults 18 and older), as a proportion (CDC's percent divided by 100; 0.313 = 31.3%). It estimates how common the need actually is among the area's adults and is the only statistic CDC publishes for tracts, so it is on every row; tract and county figures come from separate models, so compare a tract with its county only with both intervals in view. An estimate, not a survey count: modeled from BRFSS answers with multilevel regression and post-stratification; read it with its 95% confidence interval. Never add across measures or average across places. Direction: for every measure higher means more adults report the hardship, except received_food_stamps, where higher means more adults got SNAP benefits: a marker of low income, but help received, not an unmet need.

Lower bound of the 95% confidence interval of pct_adults, as CDC publishes it (a proportion, rounded to 0.001): the range CDC's model gives for the estimate. A wide interval is an uncertain estimate; two places whose intervals overlap may not differ.

Upper bound of the 95% confidence interval of pct_adults, as CDC publishes it (a proportion, rounded to 0.001): the range CDC's model gives for the estimate. A wide interval is an uncertain estimate; two places whose intervals overlap may not differ.

Age-adjusted prevalence, county rows only: CDC's model-based estimate of the share the county would have with a standard U.S. adult age distribution, as a proportion. Use it to compare counties whose populations differ in age (a county with more older adults shows a lower crude share of these needs, which are more common among younger adults); use pct_adults for the actual share. NULL on tract rows: CDC publishes it for counties only.

Lower bound of the 95% confidence interval of pct_adults_age_adjusted (county rows only), as CDC publishes it (a proportion, rounded to 0.001): the range CDC's model gives for the estimate. A wide interval is an uncertain estimate; two places whose intervals overlap may not differ.

Upper bound of the 95% confidence interval of pct_adults_age_adjusted (county rows only), as CDC publishes it (a proportion, rounded to 0.001): the range CDC's model gives for the estimate. A wide interval is an uncertain estimate; two places whose intervals overlap may not differ.