DELAWARE — Delaware County is the wealthiest county in Ohio and one of the fastest-growing counties in Ohio, which provides a unique backdrop to the county’s overall health.

The Delaware Public Health District (DPHD) released the 2026 Community Health Assessment Wednesday, which gives a comprehensive overview of the county’s health status and needs.

Among the key findings were increases in high blood pressure and diabetes diagnoses since 2022, as well as a decrease in binge drinking and fewer reported cancer diagnoses since 2022. The county’s suicide rate also remains below Ohio’s rate.

How data was gathered to create the CHA

The 2026 Community Health Assessment, or CHA, highlights incidences of chronic illnesses, substance use, mental health challenges, behavioral health and other health outcomes. The results are based off:

Stakeholder and resident focus groups conducted earlier this year.
Secondary data from sources such as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Healthy People 2030, U.S. Census Bureau, the Ohio Department of Health, OhioHealth and other local health providers.
A representative survey of Delaware County adult residents, which was mailed to 2,200 random addresses and yielded 444 responses.
The representative survey was replicated for use with the general public through an opt-in survey that yielded 208 responses.

“Our steering committee has really led this process over the last seven months. It takes a village to do this work,” said Health Commissioner Garrett Guillozet.

“The health district facilitates the partnership, but the Community Health Assessment belongs to all of you, and all of us together.”

The Partnership for a Healthy Delaware County steering committee is comprised of representatives from SourcePoint, United Way of Delaware County, Delaware County Sheriff’s Office, Delaware-Morrow Mental Health and Recovery Services Board and others.

“We were able to really expand the number of focus groups that we brought into the process, giving us a much better look at some different data sources,” Guillozet said.

The assessment also included 15 focus groups with residents and stakeholders from northern and southern Delaware County, including three groups with middle and high school students.

Organizations participating in The Partnership will use the findings to develop strategies addressing the community’s health needs.

The Delaware Public Health District will also use the assessment to develop its 2027-29 Community Health Improvement Plan, which will identify priority health issues and guide local efforts to address them.

Throughout the assessment, Delaware County’s results are compared with state and national figures, as well as goals established by Healthy People 2030, a federal initiative that sets measurable 10-year targets for improving health and well-being nationwide.

DPHD contracted with Illuminology, a central Ohio-based research firm, to assist with data collection and analysis.

Illuminology researcher Karen Hines led the analysis and presented a summary Wednesday of findings from the more than 100-page assessment.

Key findings

Hines began the presentation by highlighting what survey respondents identified as the most important health issues facing the community.

The top five responses were high taxes, population growth and overdevelopment, traffic, the high cost of living and a lack of affordable housing.

“We see a lot of these responses that may not seem like they pertain to health,” Hines said. “We did word the question this way intentionally because your average resident might not necessarily consider social determinants of health or other factors that impact health as health issues.”

For example, one survey respondent described financial strain this way:

“The biggest issue is even if you’ve got a job and you’re working, you are still just scraping by and every time something happens, well now you’re behind.”

General health, death and illness

Respondents said they felt generally healthy, with 61% of noting they would describe their health as “excellent” or “very good” and roughly a third saying they have “good” health.

“Those who have a household income annually of less than $75,000 are less likely to say that their general health is very good or excellent. So we’re seeing that impact of income on this health outcome,” Hines said.

The CHA found chronic illness diagnoses are mostly similar to 2022, when the last CHA was released, but high blood pressure and diabetes diagnoses have increased significantly.

In 2022, 29% of survey respondents said a doctor, nurse or health professional told them they had high blood pressure. In 2026, 43% reported a high blood pressure diagnosis.

That puts Delaware County above the Healthy People 2030 goal.

For diabetes, 13% of respondents reported being diagnosed in 2026, compared to 8% in 2022. There was also a 3% increase in respondents reporting high cholesterol compared to 2022 data.

Asthma, coronary heart disease, heart attack, congestive heart failure and stroke diagnoses were similar between 2022 and 2026 responses. Reported cancer diagnoses were down, with 10% in 2026, compared to 14% in 2022.

Hines said the amount of responses were similar in 2022 and 2026, with an estimated 20 more respondents in 2022.

Cancer and heart disease are leading causes of death in both Delaware County and Ohio; however, the CHA found incidence rates of all types of cancer — including lung, colon and rectal cancer — are lower in Delaware County than in Ohio.

The CHA also identified Delaware County’s death by suicide rate is 11.2 deaths per 100,000 people, which is lower than Ohio’s rate of 15.7 and meets the Healthy People 2030 goal.

Suicide rates were significantly higher among males than females.

The county recorded 23 suicide deaths in 2022, the highest of the four-year period. That number fell to 15 in 2023 before increasing to 22 in both 2024 and 2025.

Behavioral risk factors

Behavioral health risk factors are habits, experiences, or conditions that increase the chance of mental illness, substance abuse or physical health problems.

The CHA found 30% of residents are considered obese and 45% are considered overweight, according to Body Mass Index (BMI), marking 30.4% of Delaware County adults over the age of 20 as obese.

That puts Delaware County below the Healthy People 2030 goal of 36%.

Additionally, 17% of survey respondents reported using a GLP-1 for weight loss or other chronic disease treatment, with more females reporting use, Hines said.

Behavioral health and substance use

The CHA reported 30% of residents have been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and 25% of residents have been diagnosed with a depressive disorder.

Residents aged 18-34 were more likely to report an anxiety disorder than other age groups, and residents aged 35-44 were more likely to report a depressive disorder.

Survey responses also showed those with lower household income are more likely to experience nervousness, worrying, depressed feelings and loneliness.

Hines said those differences shouldn’t be interpreted to mean mental health is less of a concern among older adults.

“It’s possible that the older age group maybe isn’t used to saying that they have these feelings, so maybe they are feeling these things, but they’re not used to reporting that,” Hines said.

The next set of data underscored that point. From 2022 through 2025, residents 65 and older accounted for 19 suicide deaths, the highest number of any age group. Residents ages 45 to 54 followed with 17 deaths.

One survey respondent said: “With seniors, I see a lot of depression. One due to loneliness, but also due to a lack of purpose anymore.”

Mental health concerns weren’t limited to older residents. Respondents also pointed to academic stress and its effect on young people.

“We hear from our young people that we serve in our prevention programming the impact of academic stress and how that contributes to really having pretty big mental health challenges,” one respondent wrote.

The CHA also reported a low number of residents using tobacco or nicotine products, with 95% of respondents saying they never smoke cigarettes or vapes, putting Delaware County in line with the Healthy People 2030 goal.

Binge drinking has also decreased since 2022, but recreational marijuana use is a “substance of concern,” the CHA noted, with 11% of respondents reporting recreational usage in the last 30 days.

Social determinants of health include economic stability, education access and quality, healthcare access and quality, neighborhood and built environment and social and community context.

Delaware County fares better than Ohio on measures of income and poverty, with only 4.3% of residents below 100% of the federal poverty line, compared to Ohio’s 12.7%.

But survey respondents pointed out there have been increases in the costs of goods and services without increases in wages to match.

“Every year my rent’s going up now… all the utilities went up…gas is going
up…[the cost of] food is going up. Everything except your income is going up,” one respondent said.

Over half of those living in renter-occupied housing units are considered cost-burdened, or spending 30% or more of income on rent, which is nearly 5% higher than Ohio as a whole.

Survey respondents and stakeholders also pointed out not all residents have safe and permanent residences.

“One population that has been on my mind a lot lately at our Delaware [library] branch is the unhoused population,” one respondent said.

“One of the major things that could become more of a health crisis is the lack of access to bathrooms … We have a lot of teeth brushing and hygiene being done as soon as we open our doors.”

A majority of respondents did not have difficulty getting medical care, dental care or mental health care in the past year, but residents mentioned healthcare is not available or is hard to access in Delaware County.

Other social determinants of health included:

Residents had physical safety concerns for guns in schools, kids riding e-bikes and online safety for youth.
40% of Delaware County adults keep a firearm in or around their home, with rural residents representing a larger portion of that number. 24% reported their firearms are locked and unloaded.
Residents and stakeholders noted that not all residents may feel a sense of belonging in Delaware County, such as those with different languages or cultures, LGBTQIA+ individuals, unhoused individuals and those who are new to the community.
In terms of adverse childhood experiences, residents most commonly reported a parent or adult in their home swore at them, insulted them or put them down, or they lived with someone who was a problem drinker or alcoholic.

View the full CHA here.