Online Tool Compares, Contrasts Health Issues in NJ's Nine Largest Cities

NJ Spotlight

City Health Dashboard also juxtaposes Garden State data with 500 biggest communities across United States.

Residents in seven of New Jersey’s nine largest cities are less healthy than those living in the nation’s largest cities, with those in Newark and Camden faring the worst, a new online tool shows.

City Health Dashboard, created by the Department of Population Health at NYU School of Medicine, provides data on 36 measures related to health for the 500 largest cities in the United States, those with populations of at least 66,000. Launched today, its goal is to provide useful data that can inform local and health officials’ decisions, enabling them to work to address the greatest needs facing cities, neighborhoods, and racial and ethnic populations.

The dashboard includes health measures like obesity and opioid-overdose deaths, as well as housing affordability and income inequality and other social determinants that can influence health. It pulls together data from multiple sources into a single site where city leaders and residents can see gaps in health and opportunity, and gives users the ability to view many of its measures by neighborhoods within a community and according to race and gender. The dashboard further enables users to compare cities and provides resources for best practices and policies for addressing health challenges.