The data used to construct the Community Health Status Indicators (CHSI) were obtained from a variety of federal agencies including the Department of Health and Human Services, Environmental Protection Agency, Census Bureau, and Department of Labor. CHSI 2009 reported 205 health indicators (around 537 data measurements) for 3,141 current counties in 50 states and District of Columbia.

CHSI data is reported at the county-level, representing several areas of responsibility for public health such as access to and utilization of healthcare services, birth and death measures, vulnerable populations, risk-factors for premature deaths, communicable diseases, and environmental health. The estimates presented in the report rely on various data sources, methods, and calculations. The estimates are consistent across the CHSI reports, but the calculations may not correlate with other established methods for analyses of the same data.