docs/us_health/health_mental_health_county_year

health_mental_health_county_year

Mental health prevalence, outcomes, and provider supply per county. PLACES 2025 depression and mental distress prevalence (Tier C spine), HRSA AHRF psychiatrist density (Tier A), CHR 2025 suicide mortality (Tier A).

tier bbayesian_estimatehealthmental_healthcdcplaceschrpsychiatristsuicidedepression
grain
county-year
years
2024 – 2025
cadence
Annual
overview

overview

3,143 counties. PLACES depression universal (modeled); HRSA psychiatrist density; CHR suicide.

current vintage — PLACES 2025; CHR 2025; AHRF 2024-2025

history — PLACES depression: 2020-present; CHR suicide: 2010-present

provenance

source & licensing

authority
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention|U.S. Health Resources & Services Administration|UWPHI
dataset
CDC PLACES 2025 + HRSA AHRF + County Health Rankings 2025
license
Public domain (CDC, HRSA); Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CHR)
citation
CDC PLACES 2025 + County Health Rankings 2025 + HRSA AHRF 2025.
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.
frequent_mental_distress_pctfloat64 · percent (0–100)Percentage of adults who report 14 or more days of poor mental health in the past 30 days. Higher values indicate a greater share of the population experiencing frequent psychological distress.
pct_adults_depressionfloat64 · percent (0–100)Percentage of adults who report ever having been told by a doctor, nurse, or other health professional that they have a depressive disorder. Higher values indicate a greater prevalence of diagnosed depression in the county population.
pct_adults_fair_poor_healthfloat64 · percent (0–100)Percentage of adults who rate their overall health as 'fair' or 'poor' on a self-reported health status survey. Higher values indicate worse overall perceived health in the county population.
pct_adults_insufficient_sleepfloat64 · percent (0–100)Percentage of adults who report sleeping fewer than 7 hours on average in a 24-hour period. Higher values indicate a greater prevalence of insufficient sleep, a risk factor for poor mental and physical health.
pct_lonelyfloat64 · percent (0–100)Percentage of adults who report feeling lonely or socially isolated. Higher values indicate greater prevalence of loneliness, which is associated with adverse mental health outcomes.
primary_care_physicians_per_100kfloat64 · rate per 100kNumber of primary care physicians per 100,000 county residents. Higher values indicate greater access to frontline medical care, which often serves as the first point of contact for mental health concerns.
psychiatrist_countint64 · countTotal number of actively practicing psychiatrists in the county. Used alongside psychiatrists_per_100k to assess absolute versus per-capita mental health workforce supply.
psychiatrists_per_100kfloat64 · rate per 100kNumber of actively practicing psychiatrists per 100,000 county residents. Higher values indicate greater availability of psychiatric care relative to population size.
state_idstring2-character FIPS code identifying the state.Joins dim.states on state_id.
suicide_deaths_per_100kfloat64 · rate per 100kAge-adjusted suicide mortality rate per 100,000 county residents. Higher values indicate a greater burden of suicide in the county and are used as a key indicator of population-level mental health crisis.
yearkeyint64Reference year of the observation.
relationships

joins

primary key
county_id, year
common joins
dim.geographies on county_id
health_mortality_despair_county_year on (county_id, year)
health_substance_use_county_year on (county_id, year)
usage

how to use this table

method

Three-source merge: PLACES depression and frequent mental distress (Tier C, modeled BRFSS); HRSA psychiatrist density (Tier A administrative); CHR suicide age-adjusted from CDC WONDER (Tier A).

do not use for

Direct measurement of depression prevalence (PLACES is modeled); detailed diagnostic breakdowns (anxiety, PTSD, etc.); inpatient utilization; child/adolescent mental health (BRFSS is adult-only).

known issues

Mixed reliability tiers within row - psychiatrist density A, distress C, suicide A. Don't average across them.

last updated · May 5, 2026