healthbycounty

Health-Related Social Needs

Lack of Social and Emotional Support by County — US Rankings

CDC PLACES 2023 · Age-adjusted prevalence · All 3,144 US counties

PLACES tracks adults who report rarely or never getting the social and emotional support they need. This is one of the newer "social drivers of health" measures in the BRFSS module, and PLACES county estimates have only recently become available. The measure is self-reported, subjective, and varies more by individual disposition than most clinical measures — but the county-level pattern is real and consistent across reporting years.

How this ranking is built

Source: CDC PLACES 2023 release. Methodology: BRFSS survey responses pooled across years, fitted with a small-area statistical model, age-adjusted to the 2000 US standard population. Confidence intervals (95%) are shown for each county — wider intervals indicate more uncertainty in the modeled estimate, typically driven by smaller populations.

Lowest Lack of Social / Emotional Support Rates — Top 100 Counties

Counties with the lowest reported lack of social / emotional support prevalence — these counties show the most favorable position on this measure.

#CountyRate
1Wasatch County16.7%
2Johnson County17.1%
3Falls Church city17.1%
4Waukesha County17.1%
5Summit County17.2%
6St. Charles County17.3%
7Ozaukee County17.7%
8Arlington County18.0%
9Platte County18.1%
10Delaware County18.1%
11Sarpy County18.2%
12Ada County18.3%
13Newport County18.3%
14Hamilton County18.4%
15Boone County18.4%
16Cache County18.4%
17Teton County18.5%
18Washington County18.5%
19Utah County18.5%
20Washington County18.7%
21Morgan County18.7%
22Washington County18.7%
23Dane County18.7%
24Cape Girardeau County18.8%
25Davis County18.8%
26Gallatin County18.9%
27Albemarle County18.9%
28Brown County18.9%
29Christian County19.0%
30Poquoson city19.0%
31Washington County19.1%
32Clay County19.1%
33Portage County19.1%
34St. Croix County19.1%
35Adair County19.2%
36Greene County19.2%
37Grand County19.2%
38Blaine County19.3%
39Osage County19.3%
40Calumet County19.3%
41Nez Perce County19.4%
42Washtenaw County19.4%
43Andrew County19.4%
44Arthur County19.4%
45Watauga County19.4%
46Cass County19.4%
47Rich County19.4%
48Door County19.4%
49Jefferson County19.5%
50Franklin County19.5%
51Jefferson County19.5%
52Garfield County19.5%
53Dare County19.5%
54Geauga County19.5%
55Kane County19.5%
56Montgomery County19.5%
57Pierce County19.5%
58Crow Wing County19.6%
59Cass County19.6%
60McPherson County19.6%
61Warren County19.6%
62Garfield County19.6%
63Iowa County19.6%
64Bonner County19.7%
65Valley County19.7%
66Olmsted County19.7%
67Kearney County19.7%
68Wood County19.7%
69Emery County19.7%
70Wayne County19.7%
71Goochland County19.7%
72Loudoun County19.7%
73Green County19.7%
74La Crosse County19.7%
75Washington County19.7%
76Cole County19.8%
77Nodaway County19.8%
78Stone County19.8%
79Loup County19.8%
80Saunders County19.8%
81Monmouth County19.8%
82Burleigh County19.8%
83Tooele County19.8%
84Hanover County19.8%
85Columbia County19.8%
86Outagamie County19.8%
87Polk County19.8%
88Oconee County19.9%
89Custer County19.9%
90Madison County19.9%
91Oneida County19.9%
92Wright County19.9%
93Callaway County19.9%
94Camden County19.9%
95Clinton County19.9%
96Howard County19.9%
97Lafayette County19.9%
98Lincoln County19.9%
99Phelps County19.9%
100Polk County19.9%

Best 100 counties for Lack of Social / Emotional Support.

Highest Lack of Social / Emotional Support Rates — Bottom 100 CountiesCounties with the highest reported lack of social / emotional support prevalence.
#CountyRate
1Holmes County37.8%
2East Carroll Parish37.8%
3Issaquena County37.2%
4Jefferson County36.4%
5Apache County36.3%
6Humphreys County36.2%
7Bethel Census Area36.1%
8Sunflower County36.0%
9Claiborne County35.8%
10Tunica County35.5%
11Sharkey County35.4%
12Noxubee County35.4%
13Lee County35.4%
14Kusilvak Census Area35.3%
15Yazoo County35.2%
16Claiborne Parish34.9%
17Bronx County34.8%
18Quitman County34.8%
19Madison Parish34.8%
20Wilkinson County34.7%
21Jefferson County34.6%
22Tallahatchie County34.5%
23Phillips County34.5%
24Coahoma County34.4%
25Bullock County34.4%
26Morehouse Parish34.3%
27Leflore County34.2%
28St. Francis County34.2%
29Aleutians East Borough34.2%
30Washington County34.1%
31Tensas Parish34.1%
32Chicot County34.1%
33Allendale County33.9%
34Clay County33.9%
35Kemper County33.8%
36St. Helena Parish33.8%
37Greene County33.8%
38Hinds County33.6%
39Desha County33.6%
40Aleutians West Census Area33.5%
41Jefferson Davis County33.4%
42Hancock County33.2%
43Adams County33.0%
44Marlboro County32.9%
45Iberville Parish32.9%
46Crittenden County32.9%
47Wilcox County32.9%
48St. John the Baptist Parish32.7%
49Queens County32.6%
50Jasper County32.6%
51Lincoln County32.6%
52Lowndes County32.6%
53McKinley County32.5%
54Northwest Arctic Borough32.5%
55Marshall County32.3%
56Bolivar County32.3%
57Red River Parish32.3%
58Dallas County32.3%
59Pike County32.2%
60Chickasaw County32.2%
61Lafayette County32.2%
62Scott County32.1%
63Panola County32.1%
64Avoyelles Parish32.1%
65Calhoun County32.1%
66Monroe County32.1%
67Walthall County32.0%
68Concordia Parish32.0%
69Macon County32.0%
70Amite County31.9%
71West Feliciana Parish31.9%
72St. Landry Parish31.9%
73Mississippi County31.9%
74Copiah County31.8%
75St. Mary Parish31.8%
76Catahoula Parish31.8%
77Macon County31.8%
78Navajo County31.8%
79Perry County31.8%
80Caddo Parish31.7%
81Barbour County31.7%
82Yalobusha County31.6%
83St. James Parish31.6%
84Bienville Parish31.6%
85Los Angeles County31.6%
86Ouachita County31.6%
87Nome Census Area31.6%
88Dillingham Census Area31.6%
89Dallas County31.6%
90Leake County31.5%
91Iberia Parish31.5%
92East Feliciana Parish31.5%
93Benton County31.4%
94Orleans Parish31.4%
95Clayton County31.4%
96Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area31.4%
97Montgomery County31.3%
98Williamsburg County31.2%
99Winston County31.2%
100Wayne County31.2%

Worst 100 counties for Lack of Social / Emotional Support.

What this ranking suggests

Lack of social and emotional support is upstream of mental-health outcomes and downstream of community structure. Counties at the high end of this ranking often also score high on the frequent-mental-distress and depression rankings; the three together describe much of a county's mental-health environment.

Methodology notes & limitations

Estimates are statistical model outputs, not direct measurements. Small counties have wider confidence intervals; treat narrow rank differences in those rows as within-noise. Counties where the underlying population is too small to support modeling are suppressed entirely (about 1% of US counties). All measures are age-adjusted to the 2000 US standard population. The PLACES dataset uses BRFSS self-reported data — self-report introduces known direction-of-bias in some measures (BMI is under-reported; binge drinking is under-reported), but the bias is roughly uniform across counties so ranking comparability is preserved. See the methodology page for full data-pipeline documentation.

By Logan Johnson, Founder & Data EditorPublished Reviewed by Logan Johnson, Founder & Data Editor

Data source: CDC PLACES 2023 release. Measure ID: EMOTIONSPT.

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