The U.S. Census Bureau posted its latest batch of American Community Survey results Thursday.
The new collection of "1-year estimates" tables for 2024 provides vast rivers of data on topics like earnings, housing and health insurance.
We used the tables, along with similar tables for 2023, to track use of employer-sponsored health coverage.
Employer plans and TRICARE, the health plan for U.S. military personnel, covered 63.1% of the people ages 19 through 64 in a typical state in 2024.
That was up 0.3 percentage points, from a median of 62.8%, in 2023.
In 2024, for the 50 states and the District of Columbia, the percentage ranged from 46% up to more than 70%.
For a look at the 10 states where the highest percentage of working-age people had civilian employer or TRICARE health coverage in 2024, see the gallery accompanying this article.
What it means: Employer plans cover a lot more people — and likely have a lot more clout in state policy discussions — in some states than in others.
Methods: To create the gallery, we used data from the American Community Survey's B27010 1-year estimate tables for 2023 and 2024.
We counted people as having employer coverage if they had either ordinary employer coverage or TRICARE coverage, either as stand-alone coverage or combined with another type of coverage.
Census data: The Census Bureau produces the survey data needed to help states establish congressional district boundaries.
It also posts huge amounts of copyright-free data on many other topics.
The new batch released Thursday includes national data for 2024 and data broken down by state.
Posting data for smaller areas takes longer, but the Census Bureau is now offering 2023 tables showing similar data for cities, counties, U.S. House districts and ZIP codes.
Employers and benefits advisors can use the data to create their own reports, social media posts and podcasts.
Related: Top 12 states for best 'quality of life' for workers
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