Heart Disease Mortality Rates Across US Counties and Demographics

Age-standardized death rates for heart disease are provided for over 3,000 US counties and territories from 2017 to 2019. The CDC's National Vital Statistics System compiled this dataset, which includes spatially smoothed county-level estimates. Data can be stratified by sex and race/ethnicity.

Use Cases

• Analyze geographic disparities in heart disease mortality by mapping Data_Value against LocationDesc and X_lon/Y_lat coordinates.
• Investigate demographic risk factors by comparing Data_Value across Stratification1 (e.g., sex) and Stratification2 (e.g., race/ethnicity) categories.
• Model county-level mortality rates (Data_Value) using geographic features (LocationDesc, GeographicLevel) and demographic stratifications.
• Track temporal trends in heart disease mortality by aggregating Data_Value across the 2017-2019 Year range for different StratificationCategory1 groups.

Strengths

• Data covers a 3-year period (2017-2019) for temporal stability.
• Includes estimates for all US counties and territories (LocationDesc), providing national coverage.
• Rates are age-standardized and spatially smoothed to improve reliability for small-area analysis.
• Offers demographic breakdowns via Stratification1 and Stratification2 columns.

Limitations

• Dataset contains modeled, spatially smoothed estimates rather than raw counts, which may obscure local extremes.
• Lacks individual-level data, limiting analysis to aggregate population health metrics.
• Most recent data is from 2019, which may not reflect post-2020 trends.

Provenance

Source

National Vital Statistics System via data.cdc.gov.

Collection Method

Aggregated and age-standardized from vital records; county rates are spatially smoothed.

Time Range

2017-2019

Freshness

Data reflects 2017-2019 period; metadata was updated February 2025.

Geography

United States, including all states, territories, and counties.