Finding data on Infant Mortality for every county in the U.S. - Is it possible?

Tracy Flood
Mar 18
3 min read

Updated: Apr 8

Explore four of our favorite free, public datasources and how to download county-level data on Infant Mortality Rate.

If we want to improve infant mortality in the U.S., we would want to start where infant mortality was highest. To know that, I believe we need county-level Infant Mortality Rates (IMR)

Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) = deaths for every 1,000 live births

The 2 questions are:

Question 1. Do we have Infant Mortality Rates [IMR] for every county in the U.S.?
Question 2. Where can we find county-level IMR?

We will start by answering these 2 questions and then will do a step-by-step walkthrough of how to download data from each of our 4 favorite free, publicly available datasources for county-level IMR including our top choice and the 3 runners up.

Summary of Datasources

Download the 1-pager:

Q1. Do we have IMR for every county in the U.S.?

The data exist for calculating IMR: births and deaths are collected for every person through vital records. Specifically birth and death certificates are converted into data by the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS). The NVSS is a federal dataset compiled cooperatively by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) and the States.

Can we, as the public, easily find a free, downloadable dataset with IMR for every county? It is common for some data to be suppressed or not shared. Here's why:

Rare events create unstable estimates that vary widely year-to-year. So, datasources that use vital records to calculate IMR will use several strategies to ensure data quality:

IMR averages are reported over several years (ex. 3 years, 7 years)
Counties with low populations or a low number of events are not shared (a.k.a. data are suppressed)
Statistical smoothing techniques are used to stabilize the estimates.

Additionally, because it takes time to process and clean the data, there is commonly a time delay of 2 to 3 years. So, in 2025, we may be reporting data for 2022.

Question 2. Where can we find county-level IMR?

County-level IMR can be found in four of our favorite, free, publicly available datasources. The overall winner is HRSA’s Maternal and Infant Health Mapping Tool. This ranking is based on two criteria:

(a) data availability for county-level IMR, percent of counties reported, and

(b) how easy it is to download IMR data for all counties in the U.S.

Data on IMR by County:

(1) ⭐️ Favorite ⭐️ HRSA Maternal and Infant Health Mapping Tool - best overall

90% of counties with reported IMR for 2020-2022. Easy to download.

(2) CDC Wonder, Infant Deaths - most flexible

(3) County Health Rankings and Roadmaps, Additional Measures - best download

(4) PeriStats by March of Dimes - best graphics

The next step is to download the data to see where rates of infant mortality are highest and then find places with opportunities to improve.

How to Download Data

The steps for downloading county-level IMR for each of the datasources are outlined below.

HRSA Maternal and Infant Health Mapping Tool

To download the data on the HRSA Maternal and Infant Health Mapping Tool, go to https://data.hrsa.gov/maps/mchb/ > see Left Navigation > "Health Indicators" > Select "Infant Mortality Rate (per 1,000 births)" > Select Year > Apply > Scroll down > Export as Excel

CDC WONDER Infant Deaths

To download data from CDC WONDER, infant deaths, go to https://wonder.cdc.gov/ > Select: "Infant Deaths" > Select: Linked Birth / Infant Death Records for 2007-2022 with ICD 10 codes (recommended) > Accept terms > Request Form Tab > Group Results by: "County" > click: "Send"

County Health Rankings and Roadmaps, Additional Measures

There are several ways to download data from County Health Rankings and Roadmaps. To download a national dataset, go to "Data & Documentation" via https://www.countyhealthrankings.org/health-data/methodology-and-sources/data-documentation > Select: "2025 County Health Release National Data" > open Excel file > Tab: Additional Measure Data > see column for "Infant Mortality Rate"

PeriStats by March of Dimes

Topic: "Mortality and Morbidity" > Choose Sub-topic: "Infant Mortality Rates" > Select Location > Format: "View Table" > scroll to table > Click Excel icon to download data for the state.