The U.S. Census Bureau reported that the percentage of people under age 65 without health insurance declined in 194 counties and rose in 85 counties from 2022 to 2023, based on new Small Area Health Insurance Estimates (SAHIE) data.
SAHIE provides annual single-year estimates of health insurance coverage for individuals under age 65 across all 3,143 U.S. counties. The data is broken down by sex, age groups, and income levels relevant to programs like Medicaid. State-level figures also include breakdowns by race and Hispanic origin.
In 2023, an estimated 46.3% of counties had uninsured rates below 10%, up from 45.2% in 2022 and 39.2% in 2021.
The median county uninsured rate was reported at 9.3% in 2023, compared to 9.4% the previous year and down from 10.4% in 2021. Among working-age adults (18 to 64), uninsured rates dropped in 182 counties but increased in another 51 counties during this period. For children (ages 0 to 18), uninsured rates fell in only 27 counties while rising in 89.
Data also showed that working-age women had lower estimated uninsured rates than men of the same age group in about two-thirds of all counties—specifically, in approximately 62% or around 1,950 counties.
For adults living at or below the federal poverty level (138%), the median county uninsured rate decreased to 17.7% from last year’s figure of 18.6%, continuing a trend from a higher rate of 20.3% recorded in https://www.census.gov/data-tools/demo/sahie/2021.html.
Additional interactive tools and detailed mapping resources are available through the Census Bureau’s SAHIE website at https://www.census.gov/data-tools/demo/sahie.
“SAHIE is the only source for single-year estimates of people under age 65 with health insurance in each of the nation’s 3,143 counties,” according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
