Data / Rankings / Frequent mental distress in adults, local model estimate / Counties in California

Counties in California by frequent mental distress in adults, local model estimate

Humboldt County had the highest frequent mental distress in adults, local model estimate of 58 counties in 2021, at 17.8%. Santa Clara County had the lowest, at 11.6%. The median was 15.3%. Source: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Highest17.8Humboldt County
Lowest11.6Santa Clara County
Median15.358 counties

All counties, 2021

Humboldt County: 17.8 %Humboldt County17.8Kern County: 17.7 %Kern County17.7Tulare County: 17.7 %Tulare County17.7Yuba County: 17.6 %Yuba County17.6Butte County: 17.5 %Butte County17.5Kings County: 17.4 %Kings County17.4Madera County: 17.4 %Madera County17.4Merced County: 17.4 %Merced County17.4Del Norte County: 17.1 %Del Norte County17.1Glenn County: 17 %Glenn County17Lassen County: 17 %Lassen County17Imperial County: 16.9 %Imperial County16.9Tehama County: 16.8 %Tehama County16.8Fresno County: 16.7 %Fresno County16.7Stanislaus County: 16.6 %Stanislaus County16.6Colusa County: 16.5 %Colusa County16.5Lake County: 16.5 %Lake County16.5Shasta County: 16.4 %Shasta County16.4Yolo County: 16.4 %Yolo County16.4Trinity County: 16.3 %Trinity County16.3San Bernardino County: 16.2 %San Bernardino County16.2Sutter County: 16.1 %Sutter County16.1Siskiyou County: 16 %Siskiyou County16Modoc County: 15.9 %Modoc County15.9Sacramento County: 15.8 %Sacramento County15.8Mendocino County: 15.7 %Mendocino County15.7Santa Barbara County: 15.6 %Santa Barbara County15.6Monterey County: 15.5 %Monterey County15.5San Joaquin County: 15.5 %San Joaquin County15.5Calaveras County: 15.1 %Calaveras County15.1Mono County: 15.1 %Mono County15.1Riverside County: 15.1 %Riverside County15.1San Luis Obispo County: 15.1 %San Luis Obispo County15.1Santa Cruz County: 15.1 %Santa Cruz County15.1San Diego County: 15 %San Diego County15San Benito County: 14.9 %San Benito County14.9Los Angeles County: 14.8 %Los Angeles County14.8Solano County: 14.7 %Solano County14.7Alpine County: 14.6 %Alpine County14.6Plumas County: 14.6 %Plumas County14.6Inyo County: 14.5 %Inyo County14.5Mariposa County: 14.5 %Mariposa County14.5Tuolumne County: 14.5 %Tuolumne County14.5Amador County: 14.2 %Amador County14.2Sonoma County: 14.2 %Sonoma County14.2Nevada County: 14.1 %Nevada County14.1Ventura County: 14 %Ventura County14El Dorado County: 13.9 %El Dorado County13.9Napa County: 13.8 %Napa County13.8Sierra County: 13.8 %Sierra County13.8Placer County: 13.7 %Placer County13.7Alameda County: 13.5 %Alameda County13.5Orange County: 13.5 %Orange County13.5Contra Costa County: 13.2 %Contra Costa County13.2San Francisco County: 12.7 %San Francisco County12.7Marin County: 11.8 %Marin County11.8San Mateo County: 11.7 %San Mateo County11.7Santa Clara County: 11.6 %Santa Clara County11.6
%. Source: CDC, PLACES: Local Data for Better Health, County Data (swc5-untb, fu4u-a9bh, h3ej-a9ec and later releases), frequent mental distress in adults, crude prevalence. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankCounties2021 (%)
1Humboldt County17.8
2Kern County17.7
2Tulare County17.7
4Yuba County17.6
5Butte County17.5
6Kings County17.4
6Madera County17.4
6Merced County17.4
9Del Norte County17.1
10Glenn County17
10Lassen County17
12Imperial County16.9
13Tehama County16.8
14Fresno County16.7
15Stanislaus County16.6
16Colusa County16.5
16Lake County16.5
18Shasta County16.4
18Yolo County16.4
20Trinity County16.3
21San Bernardino County16.2
22Sutter County16.1
23Siskiyou County16
24Modoc County15.9
25Sacramento County15.8
26Mendocino County15.7
27Santa Barbara County15.6
28Monterey County15.5
28San Joaquin County15.5
30Calaveras County15.1
30Mono County15.1
30Riverside County15.1
30San Luis Obispo County15.1
30Santa Cruz County15.1
35San Diego County15
36San Benito County14.9
37Los Angeles County14.8
38Solano County14.7
39Alpine County14.6
39Plumas County14.6
41Inyo County14.5
41Mariposa County14.5
41Tuolumne County14.5
44Amador County14.2
44Sonoma County14.2
46Nevada County14.1
47Ventura County14
48El Dorado County13.9
49Napa County13.8
49Sierra County13.8
51Placer County13.7
52Alameda County13.5
52Orange County13.5
54Contra Costa County13.2
55San Francisco County12.7
56Marin County11.8
57San Mateo County11.7
58Santa Clara County11.6

Other periods

About this ranking

Percentage of adults who say their mental health was not good on 14 or more of the past 30 days. Model-based estimate for adults aged 18 and over from CDC PLACES. Crude prevalence, not age-adjusted.

US counties and cities (incorporated places of 10,000 or more). CDC PLACES combines Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) answers with local population data through multilevel regression and poststratification, so a county or city value is a model estimate, not a survey count. The year is the BRFSS survey year, not the release year. CDC says the method does not support tracking change in a place over time, and each annual release can change the model, so values for different years are not strictly comparable. A state is missing in a year when its BRFSS data did not meet standards (Kentucky and Pennsylvania in 2023, Florida in 2021). Connecticut counties appear as its nine planning regions from 2022; its eight former counties are not served. City values for 2021 come from the 2023 release, built on 2010 Census place boundaries; later years use 2020 boundaries.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the counties are compared on one definition. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). PLACES: Local Data for Better Health, County Data (swc5-untb, fu4u-a9bh, h3ej-a9ec and later releases), frequent mental distress in adults, crude prevalence. https://www.cdc.gov/places/. Retrieved 2026-10-12. These data are available free from CDC. Use does not imply endorsement by CDC, ATSDR, HHS or the United States Government.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2025). PLACES: Local Data for Better Health, County Data (swc5-untb, fu4u-a9bh, h3ej-a9ec and later releases), frequent mental distress in adults, crude prevalence (Counties in California by frequent mental distress in adults, local model estimate, 2021) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www.cdc.gov/places/

MLA 9

PLACES: Local Data for Better Health, County Data (swc5-untb, fu4u-a9bh, h3ej-a9ec and later releases), frequent mental distress in adults, crude prevalence, Counties in California by frequent mental distress in adults, local model estimate, 2021. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4 Dec. 2025, https://www.cdc.gov/places/. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/adult-frequent-mental-distress-rate-county-estimate/california-counties?period=2021. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2025. PLACES: Local Data for Better Health, County Data (swc5-untb, fu4u-a9bh, h3ej-a9ec and later releases), frequent mental distress in adults, crude prevalence. Counties in California by frequent mental distress in adults, local model estimate, 2021. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www.cdc.gov/places/. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/adult-frequent-mental-distress-rate-county-estimate/california-counties?period=2021.

Harvard

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2025) PLACES: Local Data for Better Health, County Data (swc5-untb, fu4u-a9bh, h3ej-a9ec and later releases), frequent mental distress in adults, crude prevalence, Counties in California by frequent mental distress in adults, local model estimate, 2021 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/places/, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/adult-frequent-mental-distress-rate-county-estimate/california-counties?period=2021 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{centers_counties_in_california_by_2021,
  author = {{Centers for Disease Control and Prevention}},
  title = {{PLACES: Local Data for Better Health, County Data (swc5-untb, fu4u-a9bh, h3ej-a9ec and later releases), frequent mental distress in adults, crude prevalence: Counties in California by frequent mental distress in adults, local model estimate, 2021}},
  year = {2025},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www.cdc.gov/places/},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/adult-frequent-mental-distress-rate-county-estimate/california-counties?period=2021. Publisher attribution: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). PLACES: Local Data for Better Health, County Data (swc5-untb, fu4u-a9bh, h3ej-a9ec and later releases), frequent mental distress in adults, crude prevalence. https://www.cdc.gov/places/. Retrieved 2026-10-12. These data are available free from CDC. Use does not imply endorsement by CDC, ATSDR, HHS or the United States Government.},
}
RIS
TY  - DATA
AU  - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
TI  - PLACES: Local Data for Better Health, County Data (swc5-untb, fu4u-a9bh, h3ej-a9ec and later releases), frequent mental distress in adults, crude prevalence: Counties in California by frequent mental distress in adults, local model estimate, 2021
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/04
PB  - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www.cdc.gov/places/
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/adult-frequent-mental-distress-rate-county-estimate/california-counties?period=2021
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/adult-frequent-mental-distress-rate-county-estimate/california-counties?period=2021.
N1  - Publisher attribution: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). PLACES: Local Data for Better Health, County Data (swc5-untb, fu4u-a9bh, h3ej-a9ec and later releases), frequent mental distress in adults, crude prevalence. https://www.cdc.gov/places/. Retrieved 2026-10-12. These data are available free from CDC. Use does not imply endorsement by CDC, ATSDR, HHS or the United States Government.
ER  -
Embed this chart

Paste this code into a web page or a blog post. The chart shows the latest figures as they are published, with the source and a link back to this page.

Sites that read oEmbed links, such as WordPress, can show the chart when you paste the link to this page.

Use this data in your AI agent

Invokely serves this figure to AI assistants through MCP and to code through a REST API, with the source and citation attached. Ask your assistant:

Rank Counties in California by frequent mental distress in adults, local model estimate using official data, and cite the source.
rank_places {"indicator":"adult_frequent_mental_distress_rate_modelled","level":"province","within":"California","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=adult_frequent_mental_distress_rate_modelled&level=province&within=California&limit=10

Connect Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor in one step. The trial answers 25 calls a day without an account.

Questions

Which county has the highest frequent mental distress in adults, local model estimate?

Humboldt County, with 17.8% in 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Which county has the lowest frequent mental distress in adults, local model estimate?

Santa Clara County, with 11.6% in 2021.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, PLACES: Local Data for Better Health, County Data (swc5-untb, fu4u-a9bh, h3ej-a9ec and later releases), frequent mental distress in adults, crude prevalence. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Frequent mental distress in adults, local model estimate: other rankings

Counties in California: more rankings