County Profiles

Jackson County, Missouri 

Quick Facts 2015 Population: 680,905 Median Household Income: $46,869 Poverty Rate: 17.9% Unemployment Rate: 5.1%

Key Findings

Like other counties across the Kansas City metro and across the nation, Jackson County is seeing an increase in its older adult population. The poverty rate ticked up slightly over the last year, from 17.5 percent to 17.9. Only Wyandotte County in the immediate metro has a higher poverty rate. The county is among the most diverse in the region, with ethnic and racial minorities totaling almost 40 percent of the total. Educational attainment in the county lags the national average, as does median household income Taken together, these factors may place a strain on the health care system. The county also has a higher percentage of uninsured residents than average, at 14.6 percent, up from 14.3 percent last year. On a positive note, the county has some of the lowest ratios of health care provider per person in the region, making access to care easier. Heart disease and cancer are still the leading causes of death, with the rate of deaths from heart disease up slightly over 2014.

Information presented in this county profile is the most currently available as of September 2017.

County Data

Leading Causes of Death Age-adjusted rate per 100,000 people, 2015. Source: MICA   Jackson Co. Missouri Heart disease 187.0 197.5 Cancer 175.8 173.0 Chronic lower resp. diseases 54.8 52.7 Stroke 38.1 40.6 Kidney disease 24.9 19.9 Diabetes 20.6 19.6 Alzheimer's disease 23.7 28.6 Suicide 17.6 16.9 Other respiratory disease 15.1 13.4 Influenza & pneumonia 14.5 17.8	Access to Care Ratio of Primary Care Physicians per person — 1: 1,310     Ratio of Dentists per person — 1: 1,240     Ratio of Mental Health Providers per person — 1: 490   Source: County Health Rankings

Health Indicator Trends

Trends for selected health indicators by county from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's County Health Rankings website.