Health is a fundamental part of community well-being because it directly shapes -- and is shaped by -- quality of life, economic strength, and social stability.
County Health Rankings: A Model of Community Health
The University of Wisconsin's Population Health Institute Model of Health, upon which the County Health Rankings is based, shows "how the community conditions - where we live, learn, work and play - affect our collective health and well-being."
Below are two diagrams from the County Health Rankings website, depicting how San Juan County compares to other counties across the state and the U.S. (See Sources and Notes below.)
Population Health & Well-Being
At the top of the multi-layered model of health, understanding "Population Heath & Well-Being" looks to indicators of "Length of Life" and "Quality of Life," which can be compared to counties across the state and the U.S.
The most recent data for these indicators can be found in this section, including life expectancy and premature death, and self-rated health/mental health.
Community Conditions
The next level in this model of health looks more broadly to "Community Conditions" which takes into account a wide variety of measures, from access to healthy food, transportation, substance use and availability of healthcare providers, to factors related to education, income and employment.
This website provides a snapshot of several of these measures, along with links to additional resources for learning more within each topic.
Local Survey Data
Personal Health Concerns
What are San Juan County residents' greatest health concerns?
On San Juan County Partnership's community Needs Assessment, the Resident Household Survey asked respondents to describe, in their own words, their "greatest health concern." The chart below shows a qualitative analysis of their responses, in which responses were meaningfully categorized by topics. The analysis is based on over 800 respondents who shared their concerns.
It is important to note that these are personal, subjective health concerns, as expressed by residents themselves. They do not reflect the prevalence of any specific condition. As such they provide a valuable compliment to other 'quantitative' data throughout this section.
As can be seen, many of their responses were specific health conditions they currently were experiencing, or that they were attempting to prevent. Most frequently mentioned were issues related to weight, diabetes, heart disease, mental health and aging. But the largest category was related to difficulty obtaining healthcare, such as finding a doctor and the costs associated. Nearly one-third (32.1%) of residents' concerns fell into the combined category of healthcare access, cost, and the health care system itself.
Source: San Juan County Partnership, Community Needs Assessment, Resident Survey, 2024.
Note: percentages exclude those who did not answer or indicated “none” or n/a. A total of 882 answered the question, 61 wrote none or n/a. When individual responses included multiple concerns, each concern was coded and included, with a total of 1,194 coded concerns.
County Health Rankings: https://www.countyhealthrankings.org/health-data/new-mexico/san-juan?year=2025
San Juan County Partnership, Community Needs Assessment, Resident Survey, 2024.
Updated/Checked: Sept-Oct 2026
In addition to exploring data at this website, visit the County Health Rankings website to learn more about how counties are compared and ranked. See "Sources" for a direct link to San Juan County data.
Please note that data you find at the County Health Rankings website are going to be somewhat different than the data presented at this website. This is due to the fact that different year's data are used. At the County Health Rankings website, data are typically "multiple-year estimates" for purposes of comparing across counties with varying size (smaller) populations. Whereas much of the data on this website are the most recent, "single-year estimates," because San Juan County is of sufficient population size for stable single-year estimates.