San Jose is part of the Greater Bay Area, the third-most populous city in California, and the seat of Santa Clara County. 8.8% of the 1,013,240 residents live in poverty. Santa Clara County is ranked 4th of 58 counties in the state for health outcomes like quality of life and life expectancy, and 4th for health factors like health behaviors, clinical care, social and economic factors, and physical environment. Californians reported 3.7 poor mental health days every month, while residents of Santa Clara County reported 3.4, which is 0.7 lower than the national average of 4.1.
2016 data showed that the Greater Bay Area’s rates of mental health care providers (counselors, licenced clinical social workers, psychiatrists, and psychologists) were 38% to 67% greater than the state averages. A 2017 survey of the homeless in San Jose found that 71% of chronically homeless respondents reported alcohol or substance abuse and 42% reported a psychiatric or emotional condition.
Statistics from 2014 showed that in the Greater Bay Area, 3.4% of adults were diagnosed with a serious mental illness (SMI) and 7.1% of children had severe emotional disturbance (SED) – the lowest numbers in California. Latino, African American, Native American, and Pacific Islander children had higher rates of SED than White and Asian children. Among adults, Native Americans had the highest rates of SMI followed (in descending order) by African American, Multiracial (non-Latino), Latino, White, Pacific Islander, and Asian. 10% of children below the poverty line suffered from SED and 9% of adults below the poverty line had a SMI. These rates went down progressively as income increased. Females in California were more likely than males to have a SMI, and adults ages 35-44 were more likely than other age groups.
In 2021, Mental Health America ranked California 25th in the country for mental health according to 15 adult and youth measures of mental illness prevalence and access to care. Seven measures of mental illness, substance abuse, treatment, and insurance ranked California 21st for adults and 33rd for youth.
In the past year, 5,566,000 or 18.54% of adults in California had a mental illness and 2,437,000 or 8.12% had a substance use disorder. Among youth ages 12-17, 415,000 or 13.71% suffered at least one major depressive episode; 122,000 or 4.04% of youth had a substance use disorder; and 256,000 or 8.7% of youth coped with severe major depression.
Sources
- San Jose, California. Wikipedia. [Accessed September 2021]
- California. County Health Rankings & Roadmap. [Accessed September 2021]
- California: Compare Counties. County Health Rankings & Roadmaps. [Accessed September 2021]
- California Health Care Almanac: Mental Health in California: For Too Many, Care Not There. California Health Care Foundation. [Accessed September 2021]
- 2017 Homeless Census and Survey Comprehensive report. City of San Jose. [Accessed Sepetmber 2021] >
- The State of Mental Health in America 2021. Mental Health America. [Accessed September 2021]
