Current Release Notes

New Release as of December 2025

The PLACES 2025 release includes 40 measures, based on updated Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data:

• 35 measures are based on 2023 BRFSS data.
• 5 measures are based on 2022 BRFSS data. These were carried over from the 2022 estimates and include: 1) Colorectal cancer screening, 2) Mammography, 3) Short sleep duration, 4) Dental visit, and 5) All teeth lost.

Population and geography changes

• For county-level estimation, Census 2023 county population intercensal estimates were used.
• American Community Survey 2019–2023 data were used for all geographic levels

Revised or adjusted measure names/definitions

• Some measure names or definitions were adjusted to match other survey questions:
  • "Feelings of social isolation" was changed to "Feelings of loneliness" and the definition was updated.
  • "Receipt of food stamps (past 12 months)" was changed to "Receipt of food stamps in the past 12 months".
  • "Food insecurity (past 12 months)" was changed to "Food insecurity in the past 12 months".

Measures not included in this release

• Cervical cancer was not able to be included in this release due to the changed cervical cancer screening questions in the BRFSS.

Notes from previous releases

2024 Release

• Seven new measures for health-related social needs were added to PLACES.
• Measure Definitions and some measure names were revised. Two measures, chronic kidney disease and core preventive service use for older adults, were discontinued because of program recommendations.
• First release that uses 2020 Census population data and Connecticut planning regions for county equivalents
• Because of changes in the BRFSS question related to cervical cancer screening, estimates were not available for this measure.

December 2023 Addition

• Added 9 non-medical factor measures to PLACES from the American Community Survey (ACS) at 4 geographic levels.
• Incorporated non-medical factor measures into the PLACES Interactive Map.
• Published separate datasets with the ACS measures to the PLACES Data Portal.
• Included new Measure Definitions.

2023 Release

Estimates for Florida were not available for measures based on the 2021 BRFSS. Florida was unable to collect data over enough months to meet the minimum requirements for inclusion in the 2021 annual aggregate dataset. However, the seven measures based on the 2020 BRFSS were carried over for Florida.

The 2020 BRFSS colorectal cancer screening questions were changed to ask about five test types (FIT, sigmoidoscopy, colonoscopy, FIT-DNA, and CT colonography). Previous questionnaires asked about three test types (FIT, sigmoidoscopy, and colonoscopy). Estimates of people getting colorectal cancer screening were higher than in previous years. For more information, visit Use of Colorectal Cancer Screening Tests.

When comparing estimates from the 2020 BRFSS with estimates from other years, remember to consider differences in data collection [PDF – 168KB] and potential effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

2022 release

Estimates for New Jersey were not available for measures based on the 2019 BRFSS. Therefore, estimates for the four measures based on 2019 BRFSS data (high blood pressure, taking high blood pressure medication, high cholesterol, and cholesterol screening) were not available in the 2022 release.

2021 release

Estimates for New Jersey were not available for measures based on the 2019 BRFSS. The state did not collect enough BRFSS data to meet the minimum requirements for inclusion in the 2019 annual aggregate data set. The seven measures available in the 2018 BRFSS were carried over.

2020 release

Estimates of cholesterol screening for 2017 were revised for all geographic levels. Because of changes in the BRFSS questions related to cholesterol screening, revised estimates were generally higher than estimates previously released. Updated estimates can be downloaded from the Data Portal or the ArcGIS Online service.

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