General FAQs

In August 2024, CDC released the fourth data update for PLACES. In total, 40 measures were included — 36 based on 2022 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data and 4 based on 2021 BRFSS data (high blood pressure, taking high blood pressure medication, high cholesterol, and cholesterol screening). Seven new measures were added that include Social Isolation, Food Stamps, Food Insecurity, Housing Insecurity, Utilities Services Threat, Transportation Barriers, and Lack of Social and Emotional Support. Two measures—chronic kidney disease and core preventive services use for adults aged 65 and older—were discontinued. One measure—cervical cancer screening —was unable to be included in this release.

In July 2023, CDC released the third data update for PLACES. Seven disability measures (hearing, vision, cognitive, mobility, self-care, independent living, and any disability) were added to the existing 29 measures. In total, 36 measures were included—29 based on 2021 BRFSS data and 7 based on 2020 BRFSS data (all teeth lost, dental visits, mammograms, cervical cancer screening, colorectal cancer screening, core preventive services among older adults, and sleeping less than 7 hours).

In November 2022, CDC released the second data update for PLACES. The estimates for 25 measures were based on 2020 BRFSS data, and 4 measures were based on 2019 BRFSS data (high blood pressure, high cholesterol, cholesterol screening, and taking medicine for high blood pressure control among those with high blood pressure).

In December 2021, CDC released the first data update for PLACES. The estimates for 22 measures were based on 2019 BRFSS data. There are two new measures added to the original 27 measures. They are fair or poor self-rated health status among adults aged ≥ 18 years and depression among adults aged ≥18 years. Seven measures (all teeth lost, dental visits, mammograms, cervical cancer screening, colorectal cancer screening, core preventive services among older adults, and sleep less than 7 hours) are only asked in even years, and therefore were carried over from the 2020 release, which was based on 2018 BRFSS.

In December 2020, the 500 Cities Project was expanded to 4 geographic levels (county, place, census tract, and ZIP Code Tabulation Areas) across the United States and thus was renamed PLACES. The measures are kept the same except “Pap tests” which was changed to “cervical cancer screening” based on the new guideline for cancer preventive services. There are 23 measures based on 2018 data, and 4 measures based on 2017 BRFSS data (high blood pressure, high cholesterol, cholesterol screening, and taking medicine for high blood pressure control among those with high blood pressure).

In December 2019, CDC released the third update of the 500 Cities data. The estimates for 20 measures were based on 2017 BRFSS data. Seven measures (all teeth lost, dental visits, mammograms, Pap tests, colorectal cancer screening, core preventive services among older adults, and sleep less than 7 hours) are only asked in even years, and therefore were carried over from the 2018 release.

In December 2018, CDC updated the 500 Cities data for the second time. The estimates for 23 measures were based on 2016 BRFSS data. Four measures (high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, cholesterol screening, and taking medicines for high blood pressure control among those with high blood pressure) were available only in odd years, and therefore were carried over from the 2017 release.

In November 2017, estimates were fist updated for 20 out of the 27 measures. The estimates were based on 2015 BRFSS data. Seven of the 27 measures were not available in 2015 BRFSS, and therefore were carried over from the 2016 release. These measures were all teeth lost, dental visits, mammograms, Pap tests, colorectal cancer screening, core preventive services among older adults, and sleep less than 7 hours.

In December 2016, the 500 Cities data were first published online through the CDC Data Portal. The estimates for 24 measures for adults aged ≥18 years were based on 2014 BRFSS data. Because 4 measures (high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, cholesterol screening, and taking medicines for high blood pressure control among those with high blood pressure) were available only in odd years on the BRFSS, they were estimated with 2013 BRFSS data. In March of 2017 the interactive web application was deployed. The interactive application enables the retrieval, visualization, and exploration of uniformly-defined selected city and tract-level data for the 500 largest US cities.

The suggested citation is:  PLACES. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Accessed [date]. https://www.cdc.gov/places