Surprising findings · two published standings, side by side
Where the environment and chronic illness point in opposite directions
Every ZIP page we publish carries a standing on each of nine health domains. Read two of them against each other and some places split to the extremes: air, water and hazards among the cleanest in the country beside chronic illness among the heaviest — and dense city cores mirror it exactly.
ZipVitals domain standings · data release 202624,186 ZIP codes compared18,187 clear the population floor
What a split between environment and chronic illness actually records
A place can stand among the cleanest in the country on air, water, and hazards and still carry a heavy chronic-disease burden — that split points at everything an environment number cannot see: access to care, income and food systems, history and investment. Many of the ZIP codes highest on this page sit on tribal nations; the split is descriptive of documented conditions built over generations, never a verdict on residents.
Cleanest environmental standing, heaviest chronic burden
| ZIP code | Residents | Environmental-hazard standing | Chronic-disease standing | How far apart |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 86039Kykotsmovi Village, AZ | 1,177 | 99.9 (top 1%) | 0.8 (bottom 1%) | 99 pts apart |
| 86520Blue Gap, AZ | 2,293 | 100.0 (top 1%) | 1.3 (bottom 10%) | 99 pts apart |
| 86031Indian Wells, AZ | 1,818 | 99.1 (top 1%) | 0.6 (bottom 1%) | 99 pts apart |
| 86510Pinon, AZ | 4,074 | 99.9 (top 1%) | 1.4 (bottom 10%) | 99 pts apart |
| 87326Vanderwagen, NM | 2,489 | 99.7 (top 1%) | 1.3 (bottom 10%) | 98 pts apart |
| 86441Dolan Springs, AZ | 1,462 | 99.7 (top 1%) | 1.4 (bottom 10%) | 98 pts apart |
| 86444Meadview, AZ | 1,528 | 99.9 (top 1%) | 2.1 (bottom 10%) | 98 pts apart |
| 86034Keams Canyon, AZ | 1,983 | 99.8 (top 1%) | 2.2 (bottom 10%) | 98 pts apart |
| 86505Ganado, AZ | 6,779 | 99.6 (top 1%) | 2.1 (bottom 10%) | 98 pts apart |
| 87461Sanostee, NM | 1,307 | 99.6 (top 1%) | 2.5 (bottom 10%) | 97 pts apart |
A standing is the share of ZIP codes with data that a ZIP outperforms on that domain — higher is better in both columns. Only full-confidence ZIP codes with at least 1,000 residents are named; 18,187 of 24,186 clear the floor. The tables stop at 50 points apart; the CSV carries every named row.
The mirror: lightest chronic burden, heaviest environmental burden
| ZIP code | Residents | Environmental-hazard standing | Chronic-disease standing | How far apart |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 60661in Chicago, IL | 11,398 | 0.1 (bottom 1%) | 99.9 (top 1%) | 100 pts apart |
| 95053in Santa Clara, CA | 3,049 | 0.2 (bottom 1%) | 99.8 (top 1%) | 100 pts apart |
| 64105in Kansas City, MO | 6,312 | 0.0 (bottom 1%) | 99.0 (top 1%) | 99 pts apart |
| 60606in Chicago, IL | 3,840 | 1.0 (bottom 1%) | 99.7 (top 1%) | 99 pts apart |
| 60642in Chicago, IL | 21,789 | 0.8 (bottom 1%) | 99.5 (top 1%) | 99 pts apart |
| 55401in Minneapolis, MN | 11,816 | 0.7 (bottom 1%) | 99.2 (top 1%) | 99 pts apart |
| 55414in Minneapolis, MN | 35,007 | 0.6 (bottom 1%) | 99.1 (top 1%) | 99 pts apart |
| 60607in Chicago, IL | 32,392 | 1.1 (bottom 10%) | 99.4 (top 1%) | 98 pts apart |
| 77007in Houston, TX | 47,808 | 0.9 (bottom 1%) | 99.2 (top 1%) | 98 pts apart |
| 60654in Chicago, IL | 25,755 | 1.5 (bottom 10%) | 99.7 (top 1%) | 98 pts apart |
The mirror is real, not an artifact: dense young urban cores come out clean on chronic disease and heavy on environmental hazards. The chronic-disease domain is fed by CDC PLACES modeled estimates, disclosed on the methodology page.
5,999 compared ZIP codes are not named on this page — their populations sit below the floor. ZIP codes without a full-confidence standing on both domains are not compared here at all. The full gated dataset is in the CSV.
Cite this finding
This release is frozen at /insights/findings/environment-chronic-divergence/2026-b09af165, which will keep serving these exact figures after the data updates.
How this was computed
- Sources and measurement windows. Both columns are ZipVitals’s own published domain standings at data release 2026 — the same numbers every ZIP page carries. The environmental-hazard domain is built from monitored and modeled federal environmental data; the chronic-disease domain is fed by CDC PLACES modeled prevalence.
- Universe. 24,186 ZIP codes carrying a full-confidence standing on both domains.
- The comparison. No model — the arithmetic difference between two published standings. A standing is the share of ZIP codes with data that a ZIP outperforms on that domain, pooled over the ZIP codes carrying data on it.
- Reliability floor for naming a ZIP. Full-confidence scores only, and at least 1,000 residents. 18,187 clear the floor.
- What the divergence means — and does not. A wide split says the two standings disagree about the same place; it does not say one causes the other, and the chronic-disease side inherits the modeled nature of its source.
- What this does and does not claim. A descriptive comparison of published estimates and modeled values across places — never a causal claim, and never a claim about any individual resident.
- Reproduce it. The full gated dataset is the CSV above; the method is published in full on the methodology page, and every threshold used here is stated in the steps above.