Nutrition
On the CDC survey with adults, 86.5% of San Juan County adult residents reported they consume less than the daily recommended five or more servings of fruits and vegetables. In other words, only 13.5% reported they at the recommeded daily allowance. This is statistically similar to New Mexico (12.7%).
Among youth, on the 2023 YRRS, three-fourths (78.2%) of high school students reported they did not get the recommended five or more servings of fruits and vegetables daily -- 21.8% reported that they did recieve the recommended nutrition. compared to 17.7% high school youth across New Mexico.
A similar percentage (75.9%) of high school youth in San Juan County reported they did not eat breakfast during the past week.
Adults Who Get Rec. Nutrition
(5 or more fruits / veg per day)
Youth Who Get Rec. Nutrition
(5 or more fruits / veg per day)
Nutrition by Demographic Groups
Graphs below show percentages among demographic groups who reported that they DO consume the recommended 5 fruits/veg per day. (Higher is better.)
Overall, youth are more likely than adults to eat the recommeded daily allowance. By demographic group, among adults, on the 2021 CDC survey Native American respondents were more likley to report that they got the recommended daily allowance. (Note: 2021 is the most recent data available for adults; 2023 is the most recent for youth.)
Food Insecurity
Food security is an indicator of a household’s ability to provide enough food for every person in the household to have an active, healthy life. In San Juan County, one out of four childlren (26.6%) experience food insecurity. Below are comparisons for 'all ages' and for 'children' for 2024 from "Feeding America."
A complimentary question on the YRRS youth survey asks high school youth about often they went hungry in the past 30 days. On the 2023 YRRS, 17.3% of high school youth reported they are hungry "sometimes" (14.0%), "most of the time" (2.8%) or "always" (0.5%). On a related question, 19.6% reported that they did not eat breakfast in the past week, and only 24.1% reported they ate breakfast every day. Among middle school students, 18.9% did not eat breakfast on any of the days in the past week, and 30.3% at breakfast every day.
SNAP Benefits & Changes
In 2024, it was estimated that 20% of all households in San Juan County received SNAP benefits/food stamps, including 39% of households with children under 18, and 44% of those with one or more people with a disability.
As of July 2026, across New Mexico, more than 10,000 children lost federal SNAP benefits in the past year. A rough estimate is that this includes 600 children in San Juan County (See notes.)
Weight
Weight is a significant health factor which can directly contribute to other health problems, such as diabetes and heart disease.
In San Juan County, in 2023, three out of four (75.7%) adults were overweight or obese, 76.4% of males and 70.0% of females, as measured by a CDC survey question that asks height and weight, which are then used to calculate Body Mass Index or BMI, an indicator of excess body fat. This is jsut above but statistically similar to New Mexico's rate of 'overweight or obese' (69.7%), and similar to the U.S. rate (73%).
Among youth, 36.9% were either overweight or obese, as calculated from reported height and weight. This is somewhat above the percentage of high school students across New Mexico (34.4%) and the U.S. (30.6%).
ADULTS: Overweight or Obese
YOUTH: Overweight or Obese
Males
Females
Males
Females
Weight Trends
Over the last 10 years, weight has gradually trended upward amoung youth and adults.
Among youth, on the most recent (2023) YRRS, a similar percentage of youth were in the 'overweight' (18%) and 'obese' (19%) categories.
Similarly, amoung adults, on the most recent 2023 BRFSS (CDC Adult survey) available,, a similar percentage were in the 'overweight' (37%) and 'obese' (38%) categories.
Physical Activity and Exercise
Physical activity is an important health factor that contributes to both physical and mental health.
On the 2023 YRRS, 10.7% of high school youth reported "no days" of physical activity or exercise during the previous week, and 30.9% reported physical activity on every day.
Among adults in San Juan County, on the 2023 CDC BRFSS survey, 18.4% reported no activity or exercise outside of their work in the past month.
Graphs below show these indicators of physical inactivity overall and for demographic groups.
Youth Data:
Youth Risk and Resiliency Survey (YRRS), NM Dept of Health, County Report available at: www.youthrisk.org.
National Youth Data: Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS). https://yrbs-explorer.services.cdc.gov/#/
Adult Data:
Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), CDC.
Retrieved from New Mexico's Indicator-Based Information System (NM-IBIS).
https://ibis.health.state.nm.us/query/selection/brfss/_BRFSSSelection.html
Additional information and national data are available from the CDC website: https://www.cdc.gov/brfss/
Food Insecurity:
Feeding American: (feedingamerica.org) for information and additional data on Food Security and support programs.
Direct Link Data Map, San Juan County -
https://map.feedingamerica.org/county/2018/overall/new-mexico/county/san-juan
SNAP Benefits:
US Census Bureau, American Community Survey (2024, 1-year estimates).
Federal Changes to SNAP, reported by Patrick Lohmann in www.newsfromthestates.com
Data regaring the number/percent of county residents who lost SNAP benefits or eligibility are not yet readily available. Because San Juan County is approx. 6% of New Mexico's population, and has a similar SNAP benefit percentage as the state, it can be safetly estimated that about 600 of the 10,0000 children across the state who have lost benefits reside in San Juan County.
Despite the federal government's cancellation of USDA-based food security data collection, Feeding America is looking onto alternative sources and metrics, and reports that they remain committed to providing future updates for these important indicators.
The Youth Risk and Resiliency Survey (YRRS) is part of the national YRBSS system of surveys and is administered across New Mexico with high school and middle school students in the Fall of odd-numbered years by the New Mexico Dept. of Health in collaboration with school districts and the New Mexico Public Education Dept. The New Mexico YRRS is part of the YRBSS system of surveys, and is unique in that it adds resiliency questions:
The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) is the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) volunteer telephone survey with adults across the U.S. These data area most readily available from New Mexico's Indicator-Based Information System (NM-IBIS).