Transportation and Health Status

Transportation is an essential factor that affects the health and well-being of individuals and communities. However, many people face barriers to accessing transportation, especially in rural areas and among low-income groups. This analysis looks at how transportation options, being active, and staying healthy are related.

Some people have a hard time getting to places like the doctor or the grocery store due to a lack of transportation options, which can impact people’s health (Syed et al., 2013, Rozenfeld et al., 2020). This is especially true for people who live in more rural areas and for those will less income (Arcury et al., 2005, U.S. Dept Transportation, 2019). About one in four people with lower income say they miss or cancel their doctor visits because they can’t get there (Syed et al., 2013). Hospitals and public health agencies are exploring options to address the transportation challenges for people in their communities so they can take care of their health (Henning-Smith et al., 2017, Bayne et al., 2019). Some of these ways include working with ridesharing companies, offering transportation vouchers, or getting reimbursement through insurance companies for transportation.

This analysis shows that transportation challenges can have an impact on people’s health outcomes, such as missing doctor appointments, having limited access to healthy food, or being less physically active. Therefore, it is important to find innovative and effective ways to address these challenges and improve the transportation options for people in need.

This data is also available as an Excel Spreadsheet.

Transportation and Health Status Demographics 2023 (Excel) (402.79 KB)

Data Sources
Data Definitions

This data represents the most current publicly available information sources that are commonly used to study health care trends. The data is derived from the data sources listed below and combined to support the analysis.

U.S. Census, 2017 American Community Survey (data released 2022)
County Health Rankings (data released 2023)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) PLACES Data (data released July, 2023)

A blank entry indicates unreported data. A value of zero is a defined value and does not represent unreported data.

State: The abbreviated name of the state where the county is located.

County: The name of the county where the information was collected. County names are listed as provided on the United States Census Bureau's list of 2020 FIPS Codes for Counties and County Equivalent Entities.

Population Size: The total number of individuals residing in the county. The data is derived from the Census Population Estimates from 2021.

Population Type: The population type is determined based on the population size of a specific county. The population types include metro, nonmetro cities, and nonmetro towns. These types are adapted from the rural-urban commuting area codes (RUCA) and core-based statistical areas (CBSA) definitions of rural and urban. The population types for counties are defined as follows:

Metro - A population of 50,000 or more
Nonmetro cities - A population between 2,500 and less than 50,000
Nonmetro towns - A population of less than 2,500

Poor or Fair Health: Self-reported health status is a general measure of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in a population. Age-adjusted data is from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey from 2020.

Poor Physical Health Days: The average number of days a county's adult respondents report that their physical health was poor in the past 30 days. Age-adjusted data is from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey from 2020.

Poor Mental Health Days: The average number of days a county's adult respondents report that their mental health was poor in the past 30 days. Age-adjusted data is from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey from 2020.

Physical Inactivity: The percentage of adults age 20 and over reporting no leisure-time physical activity. Data is from the CDC Diabetes Interactive Atlas from 2020.

Child Poverty Rate: The percentage of children under age 18 living in poverty. Poverty status is defined by family; either everyone in the family is in poverty or no one in the family is in poverty. Data is from the Small Area Income Poverty Estimates (SAIPE) in 2021.

Visits to Doctor: Percentage of respondents greater than 18 years old who report having been to a doctor for a routine checkup (e.g., a general physical exam, not an exam for a specific injury, illness, or condition) in the previous year. Data is from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS).

No Vehicle Available: The percentage of the county's working population (age 16 and over) who reported having no vehicle available to commute to work. Data is from the 2020 American Community Survey.

Drove Alone to Work: The percentage of the county's working population (age 16 and over) who reported driving alone to commute to work. Data is from the 2020 American Community Survey.

Carpool to Work: The percentage of the county's working population (age 16 and over) who reported carpooling on their commute to work. Data is from the 2020 American Community Survey.

Worked at Home: The percentage of the county's working population (age 16 and over) who reported working at home. Data is from the 2020 American Community Survey.

Long Commute: The percentage of the county's working population (age 16 and over) who reported having a commute to work of 60 minutes or longer. Data is from the 2020 American Community Survey.

Tutorial Video

In this tutorial video, we look at Transportation and Health Status. The video guides you through how to use Tableau data analysis to determine if there is a relationship between access to transportation and health status.