Metrics Background

The Congressional District Health Dashboard allows you to see where all congressional districts across the U.S. stand on over 35 measures of health and factors affecting health across five areas: Health Behaviors, Social and Economic Factors, Physical Environment, Health Outcomes, and Clinical Care. These metrics and categories align with those used in the City Health Dashboard, a well-known data platform that provides data at the city and neighborhood level.

Data are sourced by our team at NYU Grossman School of Medicine’s Department of Population Health from federal, state, and other datasets with rigorous standards for collection and analysis. The Dashboard team chose these measures, with guidance from expert advisors, because they are actionable, they are updated regularly, and they are backed by evidence. Below, you will find information on each metric including a metric description, why it matters for health, data source, years of data, how the measure is calculated, and more.