Vibrant communities are adept at serving the behavioral, social-emotional, and physical needs of their population through a cohesive network of service providers.  Households, local government municipalities, various non-profits, and many others team to create opportunities for all people to achieve satisfying, healthy, productive lives. Onondaga County and the City of Syracuse face many of the same challenges that other counties across the United States encounter, including how to provide affordable and accessible health care to all and offer sufficient services to those in poverty.  The indicators contained here shed some light on how Onondaga County and Central New York compare to the state and nation.  Additionally, many of the indicators are tracked over time and provide trends.

Please Note: Many of the indicators related to Human Service and Health measures are collected across the Syracuse Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA).  An MSA is defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as a geographic entity that contains a core urban area population of 50,000 or more and includes the county where the core area is located and may include adjacent counties that have a high degree of societal and economic integration with that urban core. The Syracuse MSA is a 3,083 square-mile area which has consisted of Madison, Onondaga and Oswego counties since 2003.  From 1999 to 2003 the MSA also included Cayuga County. Other measures span the Central New York area, which includes the following counties: Cayuga, Cortland, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga, Oswego, Tompkins and Herkimer.