This measure tracks the percentage of residents who lack convenient access to markets where healthy foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables are sold. Factors restricting access include physical proximity, access to a vehicle and household income. The calculation of the percentage required an in-depth analysis of data related to the locations of food markets. The methodology for the analysis drew from work by the U.S. Department of Agriculture aimed at identifying "food deserts" across the country; however, in order to better inform policy decisions at the local level, the analysis was performed using geographic units roughly equating to neighborhoods.

Average Medicare reimbursements are used here to estimate health care spending per person in Fulton County. While Medicare reimbursements do not capture spending by everyone receiving health care, it does serve as a useful means of comparing spending between different parts of the U.S. The data used for this measure come from the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care, which calculates average reimbursements per person for U.S. counties using Medicare claims from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Average rates of spending are adjusted for regional differences in prices and for the age, sex and race of the underlying Medicare population.

Hours public facilities are open as a percentage of scheduled operating hours.

Percentage of individuals surveyed who report finding County facilities to be "excellent" or "very good" in their cleanliness

HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus, attacks the body’s CD4 cells (T cells), which help the immune system fight off infections. If left untreated HIV can lead to the disease AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). AIDS is the stage of infection that occurs when your immune system is badly damaged and you become vulnerable to opportunistic infections. A new HIV diagnosis is defined as a diagnosis of HIV infection regardless of the stage of disease (stage 0, 1, 2, 3 [AIDS], or unknown) and refers to all persons with a diagnosis of HIV infection during the the latest year for which data are available. This is a measure of incidence and is not to be confused with HIV prevalence, which is a measure of the number of persons living with diagnosed HIV.

This measure tracks the average time it takes for a person to receive a diagnostic evaluation by a qualified medical professional after arriving at a hospital emergency department. The data come from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and are based on a sampling of emergency department patients from U.S. hospitals. The Fulton County hospital included are Emory Midtown, Grady Memorial, Northside, Piedmont, Saint Joseph's, Atlanta Medical Center and North Fulton Hospital. The average wait times for Fulton County and its national benchmark counties presented here are actually averages of the median wait times of hospitals in each county.

This measure tracks the percentage of people arrested for criminal violations for whom a decision to bring formal charges was made by a prosecutor's office.

The percentage of resolved lawsuits for which the judgment was against Fulton County

This measure tracks the number of items checked out of the library including books, DVDs, audio-books, magazines etc. This figure also includes items checked out virtually, including e-books, e-audio, e-magazines and e-DVDs.