The visualization above presents important links between health risks: (lacking healthcare, smoking, and obesity) and demographic factors: (age, household income, and poverty), by each state in the United States. The dataset can be explored by clicking each individual factor, which will show the correlation between one health risk and one demographic factor at a time. This dataset is based on the 2014 American Community Survey 1-year estimate provided by the U.S. Census Bureau, along with the 2014 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The two strongest correlations are between the percentage of people who smoke vs. the median income and the percentage of people who are obese vs. the median income. Both of these comparisons have a negative correlation, which show that as the percentage of the health risk increases, the median income of the state decreases. There is no correlation between the percentage of people who are obese and the median age, which suggests that age is not an indicator of this health risk. The percentage of people who smoke and the percentage of people who lack healthcare have a weak, but present, correlation with the median age. The median age vs. the percentage of people lacking healthcare has a negative correlation, showing that it is more common for the younger population to lack healthcare. All of the health risks (lacking healthcare, obesity, and smoking) have a positive correlation with the percentage of people in poverty, suggesting that as the rate of poverty increases, so does the rate of each health risk.