Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Population Level Analysis and Community Estimates (PLACES)

Description:

The CDC’s PLACES program is an expansion of the small area health estimates that they created for their 500 Cities program starting in 2015. The 500 Cities program used statistical techniques to produce estimates for various health outcomes or risk factors at small areas for the largest 500 Cities in the United States. The PLACES program expands these estimates across the country, and makes the data available for Census tracts, ZCTAs, Census places (called Cities on PolicyMap), and Counties. These estimates were created using the CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), the Decennial Census, and estimates from the American Community Survey.

The CDC publishes both crude and age-adjusted estimates. Many of the chronic health conditions and risk factors estimated in this dataset have a strong correlation with age. This means that areas with much older populations may have deceptively high crude rates of illness. Age-adjusted estimates correct for the different age profiles of different geographies, which makes it easier to understand whether certain health conditions are truly worse in certain areas. Crude rates are available at the Census tract, ZCTA, City, and County levels, and Age-adjusted rates are available at the City and County levels.

For more details on measures:

Release Notes:

• 2025 Release:
  • Estimates for Kentucky and Pennsylvania are not available for measures based on BRFSS 2023. Kentucky and Pennsylvania were unable to collect data over enough months to meet the minimum requirements for inclusion in the 2023 annual aggregate data set.
  • Measure definition was adjusted: “Feelings of social isolation” was changed to “Feelings of loneliness”
  • Due to the change to the cervical cancer screening question in BRFSS 2022, this measure is not able in the 2025 release.
• 2024 Release:
  • The small area estimation model for the seven new health-related social needs measures was based on data from 39 states and DC. Excludes: Arkansas, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Virginia, and Territories
  • First release that uses Census 2020 population data and geographic boundaries. For county-level estimation, Census 2022 county population intercensal estimates were used.
  • Four measures (high blood pressure, taking high blood pressure medication, high cholesterol, and cholesterol screening) based on 2021 BRFSS have been recalculated using Census 2020 population data and geographic boundaries to match other measures.
  • Chronic kidney disease and preventive service use for older adults were discontinued because of program recommendations. These indicators will not be updated beyond 2021.
  • US Preventive Services Task Force recommendations for colorectal cancer screening was updated to the population aged 45–75 from 50–75 years.
  • Due to the change to the cervical cancer screening question in BRFSS 2022, this measure is not able in the 2024 release.
• 2023 Release:Estimates for Florida are not available for measures based on BRFSS 2021. Florida was unable to collect data over enough months to meet the minimum requirements for inclusion in the 2021 annual aggregate data set. However, the seven measures based on BRFSS 2020 are carried over for Florida.
• 2021/2022 Release: Estimates for New Jersey are not available for measures based on BRFSS 2019. The state did not collect enough BRFSS data to meet the minimum requirements for inclusion in the 2019 annual aggregate data set.
• Please consider differences in data collection and potential impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic when comparing 2020 BRFSS estimates with other years.