Environmental conditions, or the quality and state of the environment, are an inescapable part of daily life that can impact health. Environmental conditions such as water quality, air quality, and weather often vary among populations and geographic locations.

Food insecurity is defined as a household-level economic and social condition of limited or uncertain access to adequate food.¹ In 2020, 13.8 million households were food insecure at some time during the year.² Food insecurity does not necessarily cause hunger,ⁱ but hunger is a possible outcome of food insecurity.³

Healthy People 2030 has elevated the importance of health literacy by declaring it a foundational principle and overarching goal, and by adopting two definitions that together constitute health literacy.

Personal health literacy is the degree to which individuals have the ability to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others.

A high school diploma is a standard requirement for most jobs — and for higher education opportunities.^1,2,3 Not completing high school is linked to a variety of factors that can negatively impact health, including limited employment prospects, low wages, and poverty.^4,5 A student’s ability to graduate from high school may be affected by factors related to the individual student as well as by bro

Housing instability encompasses a number of challenges, such as having trouble paying rent, overcrowding, moving frequently, or spending the bulk of household income on housing.^1,2 These experiences may negatively affect physical health and make it harder to access health care.^1,3,4 This summary will discuss the cost of housing as well as the health effects of substandard housing and forced evictions.