County profile
Rice County, Minnesota Community Health Profile
Environmental risk, disease burden, provider access, and SDOH scores for community health needs assessment and service line planning. Fused from EPA, CDC, CMS, and Census data into a single free view.
Opportunity Score
Env
23
−27 vs U.S. mean
Disease
18
−32 vs U.S. mean
Provider
25
−25 vs U.S. mean
SDOH
30
−20 vs U.S. mean
Specific health risk patterns
Rice County, MN: 1 specific risk pattern triggered
Each pattern below combines a specific environmental exposure with a population that is more vulnerable to that exposure. When both are present at meaningful levels in Rice County, the pattern triggers. These are the most concrete data points for documenting a significant health need in a Community Health Needs Assessment and for planning where services or community investment would land hardest.
Internally, we call these “Compound Signals.” Each is a versioned, weighted composite scored against the national distribution. The full formula and citations live on the methodology page.
351.0 CAFO animal-units per sq mi (93th national percentile) led by hogs.
Agricultural runoff + flood exposure × Uninsured rural population
Defend this finding — full lineage to source data3 sources cited
Runoff Burdenneeds reviewRice County: 73/100 (elevated above the 70th-percentile threshold)
Rice County: 73/100 (elevated above the 70th-percentile threshold)
CAFO density × flood exposure × rural Medicaid coverage gap. Pattern after Hurricane Florence inundated 91 NC swine + 36 poultry CAFOs in 2018.
Methodology. Surfaces counties where concentrated animal feeding operations sit in flood-exposed terrain and the local health system is least equipped to absorb the public-health spillover. v1 uses placeholder-friendly formulation until Lynch/Parks 2025 lands.
Threshold. Elevated when score ≥ 70th national percentile across all US counties evaluated for this signal
Peer set. All US counties evaluated for the signal (~3,222, less coverage gaps)
Components (3)
93th percentile
National percentile rank of animal-unit density per square mile, derived from USDA livestock head counts and EPA Animal Unit conversion factors.
USDA + EPA — USDA Census of Agriculture + EPA 40 CFR §122.23 AU formula
Vintage: USDA Census of Ag 2022 (most recent quinquennial) · Refresh: Every 5 years · Lag: 1–2 years
How it's measured. Per-county livestock head counts (hogs, cattle, dairy, broilers, layers, turkeys, sheep) from USDA Census, multiplied by EPA 40 CFR §122.23 Animal Unit conversion factors, divided by county land area in square miles, then rank-percentile against all US counties.
Caveat. USDA Census suppresses cells where disclosure would identify individual farms, biasing the AU total downward in concentrated-producer counties. Census is quinquennial — between releases the value goes stale.
Coverage. Counties with non-zero animal-unit totals
County-level flood exposure index from Lynch & Parks 2025 — combines historical flood footprints, FEMA SFHA coverage, and 100-year floodplain population overlap.
Lynch / Parks — Lynch & Parks 2025 — county flood exposure index (pending ingestion #76)
Vintage: Pending pipeline ingestion (ticket #76) · Refresh: TBD
How it's measured. Peer-reviewed flood-exposure composite combining historical inundation footprints with current FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area coverage. Pending ingestion as of methodology v1.8.0; the v1 Runoff Burden signal uses placeholder-friendly formulation until this lands.
Caveat. Not yet in production JSON. Runoff Burden score is computable from CAFO density + uninsured rural alone in the interim; this leg is reserved for the post-#76 score refresh.
Coverage. All 3,222 US counties when ingested
Composite of rural-classified census tract share and Medicaid coverage shortfall — proxy for the rural population least insured against environmental health spillover.
Census Bureau — ACS 5-Year + Census urban-rural classification
Vintage: ACS 5-Year 2019–2023; rural classification 2020 decennial · Refresh: Quarterly (ACS); decennial (rural class) · Lag: 1 year (ACS)
How it's measured. Weighted blend of rural-classified tract share (Census urban-rural classification) and Medicaid + uninsured rate (ACS). Captures the population that bears the brunt of agricultural-runoff health events without coverage to absorb the medical cost.
Coverage. All 3,222 US counties
1 signal near threshold: Industrial Burden (66)
8 signals evaluated. See all signal methodologies →
Where Rice County stands
Health risks here sit near national averages
Rice County, Minnesota sits near the middle of the national distribution on all four major health-risk areas. Pollution exposure, chronic disease rates, doctor access, and social and economic conditions are all within a typical range for U.S. counties — none stand out as the dominant concern. For comparison and trend purposes, this is the kind of community that helps anchor what a typical national profile looks like across all four dimensions.
Methodology: when three or more of the four major health-risk areas (pollution, chronic disease, doctor access, social and economic conditions) score above the 70th national percentile, we call the pattern “multi-pillar convergence.” The scoring approach and citations live on the methodology page.
Risk profile
Rice County compared to Minnesota and the U.S. average
Four health-risk scores on a 0-100 scale, where 50 is the U.S. average. A higher score means that area is a stronger contributor to community health risk.
Environmental Risk (23), Disease Burden (18), Provider Gap (25), and SDOH Stress (30) are at or better than the U.S. average.
- Rice County
- Minnesota state mean
- U.S. mean (50)
- Signal threshold (70)
Current Conditions
Today's air quality, fires, and weather alerts
Live operational data for Rice County: real-time AQI from EPA AirNow, active fires from NIFC, and any National Weather Service advisories. Updated daily.
Environmental Factors
Air, water, and exposure indicators
Top environmental indicators for Rice County with state and national benchmarks. Full profile covers 40+ metrics on the platform.
| Indicator | Rice County | MN avg | US avg |
|---|---|---|---|
PM2.5 (annual mean) EPA AQS / EJSCREEN | 6.9 µg/m³ ▲ +17% vs MN | 5.9 | 7.4 |
Ozone EPA AQS / EJSCREEN | 57.2 ppb ▲ +2.0% vs MN | 56.1 | 57.1 |
Traffic Proximity EJSCREEN | 181,258 index ▼ -15% vs MN | 212,924 | 291,320 |
Superfund Proximity EPA EJSCREEN | 0.00 score ▼ -100% vs MN | 0.08 | 0.16 |
Drinking Water Violations EPA EJSCREEN | 0.92 score ▲ +231% vs MN | 0.28 | 3.39 |
Wildfire-Attributable Air Quality
Smoke PM2.5 the EPA doesn't count
Stanford peer-reviewed wildfire-attributable PM2.5 for Rice County. The EPA classifies wildfire smoke as "exceptional events" and excludes it from official AQS monitoring; Childs/Burke fills that gap with daily county-level data.
Source: Childs et al, Environmental Science & Technology 2022 (Harvard Dataverse 10.7910/DVN/DJVMTV). Latest year shipped: 2020. Burke et al, Nature 2023 estimate that the EPA AQS network undercounts wildfire-attributable PM2.5 by 10–30% in fire-affected counties. Coverage is CONUS only. Full methodology →
Outage Burden
When the grid goes dark
DOE/ORNL EAGLE-I customer-hours-out for Rice County in 2024. The fraction is population-normalized via the Maximum Customer Count denominator (Brelsford et al, Sci Data 2024) so it's directly comparable across counties of any size.
Source: DOE/ORNL EAGLE-I (figshare 10.6084/m9.figshare.24237376). Latest year shipped: 2024. Coverage: 3,050 of 3,222 US counties; AK and some sparsely-served rural counties may have no data. Full methodology →
Severe Weather History
Recorded storm events and damages
NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database for Rice County, 2010–2026. Cumulative + last 5 years of recorded weather events with deaths, injuries, and damages.
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database (full history rollup). NOAA buckets ~50 raw event_type strings into 8 health-relevant categories. Coverage: 3,107 of 3,222 US counties; the absent are typically Alaska boroughs and territories where NOAA codes events as forecast zones rather than counties. Full methodology →
Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations
Livestock density and federal-permit confidence
USDA Census of Agriculture (vintage 2022) animal-unit totals for Rice County, normalized to land area and ranked nationally. Animal Units (AU) follow the EPA federal definition under 40 CFR §122.23.
Source: USDA Census of Agriculture 2022 (head counts) + EPA 40 CFR §122.23 (animal-unit conversion). The CAFO composite deliberately omits NPDES facility counts because federal coverage averages ~32% nationally per EPA-IG and is heavily state-skewed — adding it as a numerator would systematically bias the index toward delegated states. Full methodology →
Pesticide Use
USGS Pesticide National Synthesis
Annual pesticide application rollup for Rice County from the USGS Pesticide National Synthesis Project. Most recent year on file: 2019. Mass figures use the EPest_HIGH estimate (the conservative-against-undercounting framing); EPest_LOW is also retained on the underlying data.
- 1.GLYPHOSATE61.5K kg
- 2.ACETOCHLOR32.7K kg
- 3.METOLACHLOR & METOLACHLOR-S21.9K kg
- 4.METOLACHLOR-S20.3K kg
- 5.ATRAZINE8.6K kg
Source: USGS Pesticide National Synthesis Project (2019). USGS PNSP nationally; year 2019 is preliminary; 2018 unavailable; 2020+ not released. Update reliability medium-low. Full methodology →
Health Outcomes
Chronic disease prevalence
CDC PLACES model-based prevalence estimates for adults in Rice County. Full profile covers 15+ health outcomes plus mortality on the platform.
| Condition | Rice County | MN avg | US avg |
|---|---|---|---|
Current Asthma % of adults with current asthma | 9.9% -1.7% vs MN | 10.1% | 10.6% |
COPD % of adults with diagnosed COPD | 5.5% ▼ -18% vs MN | 6.7% | 8.6% |
Diabetes % of adults with diagnosed diabetes | 10.1% ▼ -14% vs MN | 11.7% | 13.7% |
Coronary Heart Disease % of adults with CHD | 6.0% ▼ -17% vs MN | 7.3% | 7.9% |
Depression % of adults ever diagnosed with depression | 23.0% ▼ -3.7% vs MN | 23.9% | 23.1% |
Frequent Mental Distress % of adults with 14+ poor mental health days/month | 15.8% ▲ +2.7% vs MN | 15.4% | 17.2% |
Vulnerable Medicare Population
Who needs the grid to stay alive
Medicare beneficiaries in Rice County who depend on electricity for dialysis, oxygen, or other powered medical equipment. From the HHS emPOWER program, which CMS publishes monthly so emergency managers know who to find first when the power goes out.
| Population | Count | Per 1,000 Medicare |
|---|---|---|
Total Medicare beneficiaries Denominator | 14,172 | — |
Electricity-dependent (any DME) Ventilators, oxygen concentrators, IV pumps, motorized wheelchairs | 486 | 34.3 ▼ -22% vs MN |
Dialysis-dependent ESRD beneficiaries needing in-center or home dialysis | 22 | 1.55 ▼ -42% vs MN |
Oxygen-dependent Home oxygen concentrators (outage-vulnerable) | 93 | 6.6 ▼ -55% vs MN |
Source: HHS emPOWER Map (ArcGIS county layer), May 2026. Counts of 1–10 are masked as “≤10” per HHS privacy rules; per-1,000 rates are derived and still respect the privacy floor. Full methodology →
Provider Supply
Specialty physician density per 100,000 residents
Active providers in Rice County from the CMS National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES). Compared to the U.S. average for each specialty. Adjacency adjustment is applied separately in the Provider Gap pillar score.
| Specialty | Rice County | US avg |
|---|---|---|
Primary Care Family medicine, internal medicine, general practice, pediatrics. | 138.0 per 100k ▲ +5.8% vs US | 130.4 |
Cardiology Cardiovascular disease, electrophysiology, interventional cardiology. | 11.9 per 100k -1.7% vs US | 12.1 |
Pulmonology Respiratory disease specialists — relevant to PM2.5 and wildfire smoke exposure. | 5.9 per 100k -1.5% vs US | 6.0 |
Psychiatry Mental health prescribers; complements behavioral health access. | 17.8 per 100k ▼ -4.6% vs US | 18.7 |
Oncology / Hematology Cancer specialists. | 7.4 per 100k ▲ +16% vs US | 6.4 |
Neurology Neurological disease specialists. | 10.4 per 100k ▲ +31% vs US | 7.9 |
Source: CMS National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES). Counts reflect providers with a primary practice address in Rice County; specialty is taken from the provider's primary NUCC taxonomy code.
Pro analytical view
What drives this county's scores
The flagged signals and service-line opportunities for Rice County, plus the methodology decomposition behind each score. Visible to Pro, Consultant Studio, and Enterprise tiers.
Where to focus
Pro feature
Top flagged signals + service lines are a Pro feature
See how each signal's components blend into its final score, and which signals + service lines this county should prioritize. Available on Professional, Consultant Studio, and Enterprise.
Score decomposition
Each named signal's component breakdown with weights. The bar length is the component's percentile rank; the parenthetical is its weight in the final blend.
Pro feature
Score decomposition is a Pro feature
See how each signal's components blend into its final score, and which signals + service lines this county should prioritize. Available on Professional, Consultant Studio, and Enterprise.
Tract drill-down
Census tracts inside Rice County
Pro feature
Tract-level drill-down is a Pro feature
See how each signal's components blend into its final score, and which signals + service lines this county should prioritize. Available on Professional, Consultant Studio, and Enterprise.
On the full platform
What else is available for Rice County
The page above is a subset. The free Community account unlocks the full single-county profile: every indicator, every data source, demographics, historical trends, and mortality data. Professional unlocks multi-county comparison, compound signal analysis, service line rankings, and consultant-ready PDF reports.
Full Environmental Profile
All 40+ environmental metrics including toxic releases, hazardous site proximity, PFAS detection, pesticide exposure, and climate stress indicators.
Service Line Opportunities
See how Rice County ranks for respiratory, oncology, cardiovascular, renal, endocrine, and behavioral health service line opportunity.
Multi-County Comparison
Compare Rice County side-by-side with neighboring counties across every dimension.
Trend Analysis
5-year sparklines for health outcomes, SDOH measures, and mortality rates so you can see where the county is heading, not just where it is today.
PDF Report Export
Generate a consultant-ready environmental health briefing for Rice County with methodology citations. Drops straight into a CHNA or grant application.
Nearby Counties
Counties bordering Rice County
Adjacent county profiles with their own scores and environmental health data. Source: Census Bureau County Adjacency File.
Goodhue County
Minnesota
29
Below Avg
Waseca County
Minnesota
28
Below Avg
Dakota County
Minnesota
25
Low
Le Sueur County
Minnesota
24
Low
Steele County
Minnesota
24
Low
Scott County
Minnesota
23
Low
Data sources: EPA AQS, EPA EJSCREEN, EPA TRI, CDC PLACES, CDC WONDER, CMS NPPES, Census ACS, County Health Rankings, NOAA ACIS, NCI State Cancer Profiles. Every score on this page is derived from publicly available federal data, fused by the Banana Analytics pipeline.
Methodology: See the full scoring methodology (v1.2.0) for weights, sensitivity analysis, and validation against county-level mortality data.
Last refreshed: May 28, 2026