California Women's Well-Being Index

The California Women’s Well-Being Index is an interactive web-based tool that shows how women are faring in terms of health, economic standing, and political participation for each of California’s 58 counties, and includes state-level data by race and ethnicity. The site uses California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) data for 2010 to 2014 for health, personal safety and economic security categories.

The index reports that California counties ranking at the top of the Index’s assessment of overall women’s well-being are in the greater San Francisco Bay Area or the greater Lake Tahoe region. The top five counties are: (1) Marin, (2) San Mateo, (3) Placer, (4) El Dorado, and (5) Sonoma. At the other end of the scale, the counties ranking lowest on the Index’s assessment of overall women’s well-being are: (58) Kings, (57) Lake, (56) Yuba, (55) Merced, and (54) Kern. Specific challenges facing women statewide include affordable housing for single mothers, and lower median earnings/higher poverty levels for Latina, Black, Pacific Islander, and Native American women, compared to White and Asian women.

• Kristin Schumacher
• California Budget & Policy Center
• Women's Foundation of California