Palm Beach County Community Health Assessment

The goal of Palm Beach County Community Health Assessment is to identify unmet health needs of community residents and to inform and guide future health planning initiatives to meet those needs within the county.

In 2021, the Health Care District of Palm Beach County and the Florida Department of Health in Palm Beach County engaged the Health Council of Southeast Florida (HCSEF) to facilitate a comprehensive, county-wide health needs assessment for Palm Beach County. As part of the Community Health Assessment Report, data was collected and analyzed at a county level. HCSEF also collected, compiled, and analyzed primary data to capture the community’s perspective.

This report is organized into four main sections and their description and highlights can be seen in the table below.

Demographic Profile

Includes data on many of the key demographic and social and economic status indicators, such as population, income, poverty status, educational attainment, employment, housing, and transportation.

• Palm Beach County had a population of 1,465,027 residents in 2019, representing about 7% of Florida’s total population.
• Palm Beach County was slightly more diverse than the state in terms of race with 18.7% and 16.1% of their total populations represented by Black residents, respectively; however, it had a smaller proportion of Hispanic residents compared to the state (22.4% and 25.6%, respectively).
• In 2019, Palm Beach County had a lower proportion of residents living below the poverty level compared to the state (12.2% and 14.0%, respectively).
• Palm Beach County had slightly higher educational attainment compared to the state.

Health Resources Availability and Access Profile

Presents information pertaining to the obtainability of health care resources in Palm Beach County and includes information on health insurance coverage, federally qualified health centers, and medically underserved populations and areas.

• In Fiscal Year 2020-21, Palm Beach County had a higher rate of total licensed physicians, dentists, and behavioral and mental health providers compared to the state, but a lower rate of all classes of nursing professionals
• There is a total of nine primary care health professional shortage areas, seven dental health professional shortage areas, and six mental health professional shortage areas.
• More adults in Palm Beach County had some type of health care insurance coverage compared to Florida (85.5% and 84.2%, respectively).

Community Perspective

Includes insight gleaned from individuals and organizations in the community through key informant interviews and focus groups.

• Focus groups were conducted with a total of 299 Palm Beach County residents who mentioned that diabetes, cancer, asthma, substance use, heart disease, and poor mental health were among the top health issues with which they, their families, or their community struggle with.
• Key informant interviews were conducted with stakeholders who serve Palm Beach County. During these interviews, common themes around the challenges that the community faces when trying to improve or maintain their health included lack of economic mobility, lived and built environment, and lack of convenient access to care.