U.S. Uninsured Rate (ACS)

## What this measures

The share of people in the United States who have no health insurance of any kind, private or public, when surveyed. Annual, in percent of the civilian noninstitutionalized population, from the American Community Survey 1-year estimates, from 2008.

## Why it matters

It is the broadest measure of who is left out of the health-insurance system, and it moves with jobs, prices and changes to Medicaid and the insurance marketplaces. The same measure by state (us.state.*.uninsured_rate) and city (us.city.*.uninsured_rate) shows where the gaps are.

## How to read it

Percent of people. Lower means more people covered. There is no 2020 point: Census did not release standard 1-year estimates for 2020 because the pandemic disrupted collection.

## What it does not say

Coverage is what people report at the time of the survey, so someone uninsured for part of the year but covered when asked counts as insured. It is a survey estimate with a margin of error, which is wider for smaller populations, so small year-to-year moves may be noise. The universe is the civilian population outside institutions; active-duty military and people in prisons or nursing homes are left out. A rate says nothing about how good or affordable the coverage is. The Census Bureau's Current Population Survey publishes a different national uninsured rate, for the whole calendar year; the two are not interchangeable.

## Source

U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 1-year estimates, table B27001 (health insurance coverage status by sex by age), read through the Census Data API. Palanor adds the cells for people with no health insurance coverage and divides by the table total, to one decimal, the figure Census publishes as "Percent Uninsured" in table S2701. A work of the U.S. Government (17 U.S.C. §105), public domain. This product uses the Census Bureau Data API but is not endorsed or certified by the Census Bureau. Census releases the 1-year estimates each September; Palanor checks monthly.