docs/us_health/health_behavioral_risk_county_year

health_behavioral_risk_county_year

Behavioral and lifestyle health risk factors by county. CDC PLACES 2025: smoking, obesity, physical inactivity, binge drinking, sleep deprivation, and preventive care utilization rates.

tier cbayesian_estimatehealthcdcplacesbrfsstobaccoobesitybehavioral_risk
grain
county-year
years
2025
cadence
Annual
overview

overview

All 3,144 US counties. PLACES uses BRFSS small-area model - coverage universal but model-based.

current vintage — PLACES 2025 (BRFSS 2022 underlying)

history — PLACES: 2020-present (formerly 500 Cities, 2014-2019)

provenance

source & licensing

authority
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
dataset
CDC PLACES - Local Data for Better Health
license
Public domain (U.S. Federal Government work)
citation
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. PLACES: Local Data for Better Health, 2025 release.
schema

fields

nametypedefinition
country_idstringISO alpha-2 country code (always 'US' for domestic tables).
county_idkeystring5-character FIPS code identifying the county.Joins dim.counties on county_id.
pct_adults_binge_drinkingfloat64 · percent (0–100)Percentage of adults who report binge drinking, defined as consuming 5 or more drinks on one occasion for men or 4 or more for women within the past 30 days. Higher values indicate greater prevalence of heavy episodic alcohol consumption.
pct_adults_insufficient_sleepfloat64 · percent (0–100)Percentage of adults who report sleeping fewer than 7 hours per night on average. Higher values indicate greater prevalence of sleep deprivation in the adult population.
pct_adults_no_checkup_accessfloat64 · percent (0–100)Percentage of adults who report not having had a routine checkup or medical visit in the past year, used as a proxy for limited access to or utilization of preventive care. Higher values indicate lower preventive healthcare engagement.
pct_adults_physical_inactivityfloat64 · percent (0–100)Percentage of adults who report no leisure-time physical activity. Higher values indicate a more sedentary adult population.
pct_food_insecurefloat64 · percent (0–100)Percentage of the population living in households that lack consistent access to adequate food. Higher values indicate greater food insecurity and associated nutrition-related health risk.
pct_housing_insecurefloat64 · percent (0–100)Percentage of the population experiencing housing instability, such as cost burden, overcrowding, or risk of homelessness. Higher values indicate greater prevalence of housing insecurity, a key social determinant of health.
pct_lonelyfloat64 · percent (0–100)Percentage of adults who report feeling lonely or socially isolated. Higher values indicate greater prevalence of social isolation, which is associated with adverse mental and physical health outcomes.
state_idstring2-character FIPS code identifying the state.Joins dim.states on state_id.
tobacco_use_adultfloat64 · percent (0–100)Percentage of adults who currently use tobacco products, including cigarettes, cigars, or smokeless tobacco. Higher values indicate greater prevalence of tobacco use in the adult population.
yearkeyint64Reference year of the observation.
relationships

joins

primary key
county_id, year
common joins
dim.geographies on county_id
health_chronic_disease_prevalence_county_year on (county_id, year)
scorecard_health_county on county_id
usage

how to use this table

method

CDC PLACES applies multilevel small-area regression to BRFSS responses, using population characteristics as predictors. Tier C - model prediction, not direct measurement.

do not use for

Direct measurement claims (this is modeled); year-over-year change at small-county grain (model smoothing); sub-population stratification.

known issues

Model-based predictions calibrated against BRFSS - small counties get heavily smoothed toward state means.

last updated · May 5, 2026