Census Data to Target the Uninsured

View and export 2 tables of data identifying geographic locations of eligible uninsured populations:  

• The PERCENT of eligible uninsured people  - US total
• The NUMBER of eligible uninsured people  - US total

You can filter or sort this data on several population characteristics, including federal poverty level, education, and language. Descriptions of all data fields are below. You can also export this data to the format you choose (Excel, etc.) and use the FIPS codes to produce maps. Detailed maps of the PUMAs in each state are available from the Census Bureau.

The data here are for outreach targeting purposes only. They are not suitable for program evaluation or estimating program impact. The number of people with incomes at varying federal poverty levels is based on data from the Census for 2011 and may vary from 2014 estimates. They are good estimates to direct outreach efforts, but are not direct measures of the number of people who may be eligible for coverage through the Marketplace and Insurance Affordability Programs, including Advance Payments of the Premium Tax Credit/Cost Sharing Reductions, Medicaid, CHIP and the Basic Health Program, if applicable.

Data to estimate eligible uninsured

The Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) and imputations described below were used to develop these estimations. ACS is a publicly available survey that lists the geographical home for each household at the level of the "Public-Use Microdata Area," also called PUMAs, for households in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.  

Each PUMA is an area within a single state that contains at least 100,000 residents. In sparsely populated areas, PUMAs typically comprise one or more neighboring counties within a given state. In densely populated areas, PUMAs may be limited to smaller areas within a county, such as several Census tracts in a given city. 2011 ACS data were used for these analyses.

ASPE tabulations from CY 2011 American Community Survey Public Use Microdata Sample (ACS PUMS), adjusted to exclude estimated undocumented persons.  The adjustment methodology is based on imputations of immigrant legal status in ASPE's TRIM3 microsimulation model (http://trim.urban.org/), according to methods initially developed by Jeffrey Passel and Rebecca Clark.  The imputations of immigrant legal status developed by Jeffrey Passel for the Spring 2009, 2010, and 2011 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement (CPS-ASEC) data on CY 2008-2010 were used to estimate the probability that a noncitizen in the ACS PUMS data was a legal resident of the United States.  These probabilities—varying by reported status as insured or uninsured, state, race/ethnicity, income, and age—were then used to reweight the ACS PUMS data and produce the adjusted tabulations.  A technical description of the imputation will be available.

Methods

• The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation estimated the number of eligible uninsured people living in each PUMA in the U.S., with additional details on the numbers and percentages of eligible uninsured people based on several variables. See below for full variable list and definitions.  
• The data includes 2  versions: one shows the percentage of the eligible uninsured population that falls within each category (e.g. percentage of all eligible uninsured individuals who are under 18); the other shows the absolute number of eligible uninsured individuals within each category. 
• All estimates are survey-weighted and represent the total eligible uninsured population ages 0-64.
• Any data cell containing a weighted average of less than or equal to 0.5% was rounded to 0% (except in national data totals).

Variables

• ID: Sequentially numbered 1 through 2069 for all the PUMAs in the 50 states + D.C.
• State Name: State name or District of Columbia, for each PUMA.
• State FIPS: State numeric code, from the Federal Information Processing Standards.
• PumaState: Unique PUMA identifier, which combines state and PUMA information, using the formula StateFIPS*100000 + Puma ID
• PUMA: Puma ID number, which identifies a PUMA within its own state (but the same PUMA number can be used by different states).
• Counties within PUMA: List of counties partially or fully contained within each PUMA.
• CountyFIPS: County numeric code for PUMAs containing only one county.  CountyFIPS is not reported for PUMAs containing more than one county.
• Uninsured Total: Total number of individuals, ages 0-64, in each PUMA without any health insurance.
• Uninsured Percent: Percentage of individuals, ages 0-64, in each PUMA who are without any health insurance.

Remaining variables all refer to either the number or percentage of uninsured individuals who fall into the following categories:

• Age0_18: Uninsured individuals 18 years or younger
• Age19_25: Uninsured individuals 19 to 25 years old
• Age26_34: Uninsured individuals 26 to 34 years old
• Age35_54: Uninsured individuals 35 to 54 years old
• Age55_64: Uninsured individuals 55 to 64 years old
• _138PctFPL_or_Less: Uninsured individuals with family income (based on the health insurance unit, or HIU*) at or below 138% of the federal poverty level (FPL).  Individuals in this income range may potentially benefit from the expansion in Medicaid eligibility (up to 138% FPL)
• _139to400PctFPL: Uninsured individuals with family income (based on the health insurance unit, or HIU*) above 138% of FPL, but no higher than 400%.  Individuals in this income range will be eligible for premium tax credits.
• _Above400PctFPL: Uninsured individuals with family income (based on the health insurance unit, or HIU*) above 400% of FPL
• Male: Uninsured males 0 to 64 years old.
• Female: Uninsured females 0 to 64 years old.
• Married: Percentage of uninsured individuals who are married.
• Child in Family: Percentage of uninsured individuals living in a family (based on the health insurance unit, or HIU* ) with at least one person under 18 years of age.
• Latino: Uninsured individuals reporting Latino or Hispanic ethnicity, regardless of race.
• WhiteNonLatino: Uninsured individuals reporting ‘White alone’ as their race, and who are not of Latino ethnicity.
• BlackNonLatino: Uninsured individuals reporting ‘Black or African-American alone’ as their race, and who are not of Latino ethnicity.
• AsianNonLatino: Uninsured individuals reporting ‘Asian alone’ as their race, and who are not of Latino ethnicity.
• HawaiiPacIslander: Uninsured individuals reporting ‘Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone’ as their race, and who are not of Latino ethnicity.
• AmericanIndian_AlaskaNative: Uninsured individuals reporting ‘American Indian alone,’ ‘Alaska Native alone,’ or ‘American Indian and Alaska Native tribes specified’ as their race, and who are not of Latino ethnicity.
• Multiracial_or_Other: Uninsured individuals reporting ‘Some other race alone’ or ‘Two or more major race groups’ as their race, and who are not of Latino ethnicity.
• Disabled: Uninsured individuals answering “yes” to any of the following questions:   
  • “Is this person deaf or does he/she have a serious difficulty hearing?”
  • “Is this person blind or does he/she have serious difficulty seeing even when wearing glasses?”
  • “Because of a physical, mental, or emotional condition, does this person have serious difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions?”
  • “Does this person have serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs?”
  • “Does this person have difficulty dressing or bathing?”
  • “Because of a physical, mental, or emotional condition, does this person have difficulty doing errands alone such as visiting a doctor’s office or shopping?”
• • FullTime_Worker_in_Family: Uninsured individuals living in a family (defined by HIU) in which at least one adult 18-64 has a full-time job.
• Job_Agriculture: Uninsured individual employed in the fields of: Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting, based on NAICS industry codes
• Job_Mining: Uninsured individual employed in the fields of: Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction, Utilities, and Construction, based on NAICS industry codes
• Job_Manufacturing: Uninsured individual employed in the fields of: Manufacturing, based on NAICS industry codes
• Job_Trade: Uninsured individual employed in the fields of: Wholesale Trade, Retail Trade, Transportation and Warehousing, based on NAICS industry codes
• Job_InfoFinance: Uninsured individual employed in the fields of: Information, Finance and Insurance, Real Estate, Professional, Scientific, Technical Services, and Management  based on NAICS industry codes
• Job_EducHealth: Uninsured individual employed in the fields of: Educational Services, Health Care and Social Assistance, based on NAICS industry codes
• Job_Entertainment: Uninsured individual employed in the fields of: Arts, Entertainment, Recreation, Accommodation and Food Services, based on NAICS industry codes
• Job_Service: Uninsured individual employed in the fields of: Other Services (Except Public Administration), based on NAICS industry codes
• Job_MilitaryPublic: Uninsured individual employed in the fields of: Military and Public Administration, based on NAICS industry codes
• LessThanHS: Uninsured individual with less than a high school degree (for adults), or whose parent with the highest level of education has less than high school degree (for children).
• HSDiploma: Uninsured individual with a high school degree but no college degree (for adults), or whose parent with the highest level of education has at least a high school degree but no college degree (for children).
• CollegeGrad: Uninsured individual with a four-year college degree (for adults), or whose parent with the highest level of education has at least a four-year college degree (for children).
• NoEnglishAdults_in_House: Uninsured individual in a household (defined by Census household) that does not contain any adults (18 or over) who speak English as a first language or ‘very well’ as a second language.
• EnglishSpeaking: Uninsured individual who speaks English as a first language or ‘very well’ as a second language.
• Spanish: Uninsured individual who is not ‘English-speaking’ (as defined above), whose primary language is Spanish.
• Chinese: Uninsured individual who is not ‘English-speaking’ (as defined above), whose primary language is listed as either ‘Chinese,’ ‘Cantonese,’ or ‘Mandarin.’
• Korean: Uninsured individual who is not ‘English-speaking’ (as defined above), whose primary language is Korean.
• Vietnamese: Uninsured individual who is not ‘English-speaking’ (as defined above), whose primary language is Vietnamese.
• Tagalog: Uninsured individual who is not ‘English-speaking’ (as defined above), whose primary language is Tagalog.
• Russian: Uninsured individual who is not ‘English-speaking’ (as defined above), whose primary language is Russian.
• OtherLang: Uninsured individual who is not ‘English-speaking’ (as defined above), whose primary language is not listed in the other categories above.
• SpeaksMostCommonOthLang: Uninsured individual who is not ‘English-speaking’ (as defined above), whose primary language is not listed in the other categories above, and who speaks the most common other language in the PUMA (see immediately below).
• OtherLanguage: The most common non-English language spoken by uninsured individuals in the PUMA, not included in the list above (Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Tagalog, or Russian).

For several variables (family income, worker in the family, child in the family), we defined "family" based on the "health insurance unit" (HIU), which includes adults, their spouses, and their dependent children (ages 0-18, plus full time students under 23), using ASPE analysis of the ACS data. Precise definitions of HIUs using survey data vary, which can produce small differences in HIU-related estimates from different analysts not using ASPE’s approach.