The U.S. Census Bureau reported a decline in the percentage of uninsured individuals under age 65 in most counties across the country from 2022 to 2023, based on new Small Area Health Insurance Estimates (SAHIE) data. According to the findings, uninsured rates fell in 194 counties and rose in 85 counties.
SAHIE provides annual county-level health insurance coverage estimates for people under age 65, broken down by sex, age group, and income levels relevant to state and federal assistance programs like Medicaid. State-level figures also include breakdowns by race and Hispanic origin.
The data show that in 2023, an estimated 46.3% of U.S. counties—1,455 out of 3,143—had uninsured rates below 10%. This marks an increase from previous years: 45.2% of counties had sub-10% rates in 2022, and only 39.2% did so in 2021.
The median county uninsured rate was reported at 9.3% for 2023, compared with 9.4% in the prior year and 10.4% two years earlier.
Additional findings indicate that among working-age adults (ages 18 to 64), uninsured rates dropped in 182 counties but increased in another 51 during this period. For children (ages 0 to 18), there were decreases in just 27 counties while increases occurred in nearly three times as many—89 counties.
Working-age women had lower estimated uninsured rates than their male counterparts in about six out of ten counties nationwide.
For those living at or below roughly the federal poverty threshold (138%), the median county uninsured rate declined from recent years—standing at 17.7% for working-age adults compared with higher percentages recorded previously.
More detailed information is available through interactive tools on the Census Bureau’s website, where users can access customized tables and maps covering health insurance statistics since 2006.
