MONTEREY COUNTY — Monterey County health officials and community partners have released the 2025 Community Health Needs Assessment, a comprehensive report identifying the county’s most pressing health challenges and priorities.
The assessment, compiled by the Monterey County Health Needs Collaborative, analyzes population health data to help hospitals, public agencies and community organizations determine where to focus resources for the greatest impact.
Among the highest-priority health issues identified were diabetes, access to health care services, nutrition and physical activity, mental health, heart disease and stroke, substance use, cancer, housing, infant health and family planning, injury and violence, respiratory disease and tobacco use.
Jo Coffaro, regional vice president of the Hospital Council of Northern and Central California, said the assessment is a collaborative effort designed to improve understanding of health needs across Monterey County and help partners focus resources more efficiently.
“Together, we are able to work with our partners to access those dollars that we have within hospitals, within the county and nonprofits to deliver the best care services to individuals within the community,” Coffaro said.
Vicente Lara, program manager II with the Monterey County Health Department, said nearly 3,000 surveys were collected countywide as part of the assessment.
“In total, we had about 3,000 surveys that were collected across Monterey County. Of those, 396 came from South County, about 1,583 came from the Monterey Peninsula area, 792 from Salinas and 234 from North County,” Lara said. “With such strong participation in the survey, it really gave us a good understanding of how residents across the county are experiencing health and access to services.”
Lara added that the surveys provided insight beyond simple participation numbers.
“Beyond the number of surveys we collected, what’s really valuable is just how much information we were able to collect with our Community Health Needs Assessment,” he said. “Community input and the surveys provided insight into more than 200 indicators that spanned across six health domains.”
The 2025 assessment is the second conducted by the collaborative, following a similar study in 2022. Not-for-profit hospitals are required to complete a Community Health Needs Assessment every three years, while county health departments must do so every five years.
Founded in 2022, the Monterey County Health Needs Collaborative includes the County of Monterey Health Department, Mee Memorial Healthcare System, Montage Health, Natividad, Salinas Valley Health and United Way Monterey County. California State University Monterey Bay and Central California Alliance for Health joined the group in 2025.
The assessment reviewed more than 200 health indicators across six domains, including geography, age, gender, race and ethnicity, income and sexual orientation. Data sources included online and phone surveys conducted in English and Spanish, as well as interviews with key informants. Secondary data from county, state and national sources, including Healthy People 2030 objectives, were also analyzed.
Results from the study are intended to guide health programs, funding decisions and policy development, as well as reduce health disparities and expand access to preventive care.
Community organizations are encouraged to use the data for planning and grant reporting. United Way Monterey County will host a Health Data Dive workshop on Feb. 11 to help organizations review the findings and learn how to access the results.
The full 2025 Monterey County Community Health Needs Assessment is available at healthymontereycounty.org.
