Geospatial Data Resources
Geospatial Data Resources are organized into four topic areas; Public Health Resources, GIS Data, Social Determinants of Health Resources, and Environmental Health Data Resources. Follow the links under your area of interest below to find publicly available datasets that are available for download and use in GIS.
These resources include links to publicly available health-related data sets. A few examples of what can be found in the links below include data on various diseases and conditions and on health behaviors, health resources, rural health, health indicators, mortality, and morbidity.
- Area Health Resource File (AHRF)external icon
The Area Health Resources Files (AHRF) data are designed to be used by planners, policymakers, researchers, and others interested in the nation’s health care delivery system and factors that may impact health status and health care in the United States. - Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System
Localized health information that can help public health practitioners identify local emerging health problems, plan and evaluate local responses, and efficiently allocate resources to specific needs. - CDC Data and Statistics by Topic
- CDC WONDER
WONDER online databases utilize a rich ad-hoc query system for the analysis of public health data. - Chronic Disease Indicators (CDI)
CDI enables public health professionals and policymakers to retrieve uniformly defined state and selected metropolitan-level data for chronic diseases and risk factors that have a substantial impact on public health. - Compressed Mortality Files—County-level national mortality and population (CDC NCHS)
- County Bridged Race Population Estimates 1990–2016 (CDC NCHS)
- County Health Rankings (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and University of Wisconsinexternal icon)
Measures of vital health factors, including high school graduation rates, obesity, smoking, unemployment, access to healthy foods, the quality of air and water, income inequality, and teen births in nearly every county in America. - Data.govexternal icon
Data, tools, and resources to conduct research, develop web and mobile applications, design data visualizations, and more. - Guide to Cancer Statistics and Resources (National Cancer Institute)external icon
Cancer data, precalculated statistics, and interactive tools. - Guidelines for Working with Small Numbers (DOH) pdf icon[PDF – 581 KB]external icon
These guidelines address both confidentiality and statistical issues in working with small numbers. - Health Data Tools and Statisticsexternal icon
A collaboration of U.S. government agencies, public health organizations and health sciences libraries. - Health Resources & Services Administration Data Warehouse (HRSA)external icon
The HRSA Data Warehouse provides maps, data, reports and interactive dashboards to the public. - Health United States—Annual publication on demographic trends in health statistics (CDC NCHS)
- NCHS Urban-Rural Classification Scheme for Counties
- National Program of Cancer Registries
Cancer Incidence 1999 – 2014. - Public Health Information and Data Tutorial (Partners in Information Access for the Public Health Workforce)external icon
List of freely available GIS data and GIS resources for public health. - Public-Use Data Files for NCHS Surveys (CDC National Center for Health Statistics)
Data sources for public health. - National Cancer Institute State Cancer Profilesexternal icon
Interactive graphics and maps provide support for deciding where to focus cancer control efforts. - Kaiser Family Foundation State Health Factsexternal icon
Interactive map with state level social, health, and economic data. - National Cancer Institute Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER)external icon
Provides information on cancer statistics in an effort to reduce the cancer burden among the U.S. population. - Surveys and Data Collection Systems – NHANES, NHES, etc.(CDC NCHS)
- The 500 Cities Project
27 chronic disease related measures at 500 largest US cities and census tracts within those cities. - The Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care Data Downloadsexternal icon
Geographic and research files and tools including crosswalk, coding trends, and longitudinal research files.
The links below lead to various sources of GIS boundary files and population data.
- American FactFinder—Decennial Census, American Community Survey, Economic Census, Population Estimates (U.S. Census Bureau)external icon
- Cartographic Boundary Files (U.S. Census Bureau)external icon
- County Population by Decennial Census 1900–1990 (U.S. Census Bureau)external icon
- Data and Maps (ESRI)external icon
- Geospatial Data Gateway (USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service)external icon
- Guide to State Geospatial Data Resources (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)external icon
- HUD USPS ZIP Crosswalk Filesexternal icon
- International Geospatial and Attribute Links (University of Arkansas)external icon
- Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Area Population Data (U.S. Census Bureau)external icon
- Mineral Resources Online Spatial Data—Geology, basins, minerals (USGS)external icon
- Stanford Geospatial Centerexternal icon (Websites for Digital GIS Data, Stanford University)external icon
- UDS Mapper – ZIP Code to ZCTA Crosswalkexternal icon
- U.S. Census Aggregate Data and GIS Boundary Files 1790–2010 (National Historical Geographic Information System and University of Minnesota)external icon
- U.S. State 2010 Population Profiles, Maps, and Charts (U.S. Census Bureau)external icon
- The National Map (USGS)external icon
These resources include links that point to data, maps, statistics, and information related to the social determinants of health.
- Am I Rural? Urban/rural status by address tool (Rural Health Information Hub)external icon
- Atlas of Rural and Small Town America (USDA Economic Research Serviceexternal icon)
- County Typology Code (for economic dependence and social policy themes) (USDA Economic Research Serviceexternal icon)
- Data Products (USDA Economic Research Service)external icon
- DiversityData—Measures of diversity, opportunity, and quality of life by U.S. Metro area (Harvard)external icon
- Food Environment Atlas (USDA Economic Research Service)external icon
- RUCA V2.0 (Rural-Urban Commuting Area) Census Tract Data (USDA Economic Research Service)external icon
- RUCA V2.0 (Rural-Urban Commuting Area) Zip Code Data (University of Washington Rural Health Research Center)external icon
- Small Area Health Insurance Estimates (U.S. Census Bureau)external icon
- Small Area Income Poverty Estimates (U.S. Census Bureau)external icon
- Social Determinants of Health (CDC)
- US Census Bureau Data–Decennial Census, American Community Survey, Economic Census, Population Estimatesexternal icon
- US Census Data 1940 to Present—ICPSR Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (University of Michigan)external icon
The links below lead to data related to environmental health. Examples of what can be found include data on Superfund sites, access to parks, air quality, water quality, and much more.
- Data Resources (CDC National Center for Environmental Health)
- Envirofacts Datahouse (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)external icon
- Environmental Dataset Gateway (EDG) (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)external icon
- National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network (CDC)
- TOXMAP Environmental E-maps (National Institutes of Health, U.S. National Library of Medicine)external icon
Page last reviewed: March 20, 2019