Community Health Assessment

This page explains the process Orange County uses to improve community health. 

What is a Community Health Assessment?

Every four years, our community completes a Community Health Assessment (CHA). This process helps us understand the overall health of Orange County and identify what matters most for residents’ well-being.

The CHA sets our community health priorities until the next assessment. It also gives us data we can use to see if we are making progress on improving health for everyone.

 Healthy Carolinians of Orange County  leads the CHA process. They work with residents, civic groups, nonprofits, schools, and health care providers to collect and review data.

Community Health Improvement Plans and State of the County Health Reports

After the CHA is complete, we develop Community Health Improvement Plans (CHIPs). These plans serve as our roadmap for meeting health goals. Each year, we also publish a State of the County Health (SOTCH) report, to share updates on our progress.

Current documents

Find more health data

You can find more data about Orange County at the  North Carolina State Center for Health Statistics.

Four-year timeline for the Community Health Assessment (CHA) and Community Health Improvement Plans
Community Health Assessment (CHA) and Community Health Improvement Plans (CHIPs) Outline
 Text description of image above 

The graphic titled “Community Health Assessment (CHA) and Community Health Improvement Plans (CHIPs) Timeline” shows four vertical sections, each representing one year in a repeating four-year process.

  • Year 1: Work on existing CHIPs while beginning a new CHA. Activities include conducting a survey, organizing focus groups, and analyzing collected data.
  • Year 2: Publish the new CHA and CHIPs, then roll out CHIPs work plans.
  • Year 3: Continue to work on and provide updates on CHIPs.
  • Year 4: Continue updates on CHIPs and begin planning for the next CHA cycle.

At the bottom of the graphic, the web address “orangecountync.gov/HealthAssessment” appears in orange, and the logo of Healthy Carolinians of Orange County is displayed on the right.