The health of every US ZIP code, ranked in the open.
Transparent, cite-able rankings computed from public federal and academic data and rolled up to real geographies — every number traceable to its source, every method published. Not a dashboard; a reference.
Data release 2026Refreshed with each release
Explore
Browse the national composite ranking, drill into a state or a metro area, compare any 2–5 ZIPs, read a combined-exposure explainer, or start with the published methodology and the open data API.
Healthiest ZIP codes
RankingThe US ZIP codes that score highest on the ZipVitals Score, ranked nationally — with a downloadable CSV and a frozen citation permalink.
Open →Rankings by state
DirectoryEvery state and territory with a published ZipVitals Score rollup — a population-weighted read of its ZIP codes, and the highest-scoring ZIPs in each.
Open →Rankings by metro area
DirectoryEvery US metropolitan statistical area with a published rollup, grouped by state — official OMB delineations, rolled up from each metro's own ZIP codes.
Open →Surprising findings
FindingsShort data-journalism reads on where documented health most departs from what income, geography, or the surrounding data would predict — model stated, uncertainty shown, data downloadable.
Open →Compare ZIP codes
ToolLine up 2–5 ZIPs and read the ZipVitals Score and all nine scoring domains side by side.
Open →Methodology
How it worksHow the ZipVitals Score is built — every source, rule, and coverage gap, published in full.
Open →Public API
DataFree, public, read-only per-ZCTA data — one endpoint, no key, CC BY 4.0 derived columns.
Open →Combined exposures: radon & arsenic, explained
ExplainerWhat "combined exposure" means, the two federal references radon and arsenic are each measured against, and why the same section can read two ways. A national ranking, with a page for each state.
Open →Care deserts: where health need meets barriers to care, explained
ExplainerWhat a "care desert" means here — a ZIP code carrying both an elevated documented burden of health need and real barriers to reaching care — the two axes each is assessed on, and why it is never framed as one causing the other. A national ranking, with a page for each state.
Open →Combined exposures: flooding, evacuation and humid heat, explained
ExplainerWhat it means for flood exposure to overlap with a second measurement — households without a vehicle, or humid-heat days — what kind of instrument produced each of the three measurements, and why only one of them has a federal reference. Two national rankings, with a page for each state.
Open →Rankings by health domain
The ZipVitals Score is built from nine health domains. Each one is also ranked nationally on its own, with a downloadable CSV and a frozen citation permalink.
Built to be cited
These rankings exist for journalists, researchers, and residents who want a clear, checkable picture of where a community stands — not a real-estate pitch and not a black box.
01
Every value rolls up to a real place
State and metro numbers are population-weighted rollups of their ZCTAs — never a coarser-geography figure relabeled. Coverage denominators are shown.
02
Frozen citations that never move
Cite a ranking today and the permalink resolves to exactly that data years from now, alongside a live always-latest version.
03
Download the data
Every ranking ships a CSV under CC BY 4.0 with a provenance header — reproduce our method, or check it against the source.