Cattaraugus County56.5per 10,000 covered adults
#5 of 62- Compared with NYS
- +32.3%
- County percentile
- Higher than 93%
- Identified members
- 307
- Covered denominator
- 54,297
Founding edition · 2026
Public Health Atlas · Neurological conditions
How does reported Parkinson's prevalence compare across New York?
The latest public New York dataset supports a county-level comparison. It does not support ZIP-code dots, neighborhood clusters, or conclusions about why one county's rate differs from another.
Rank is context—not a risk verdict.
These are crude, claims-based prevalence rates among adults included in New York's All-Payer Database. They are not age-adjusted. Differences in population age, insurance coverage, access to neurologists, diagnosis, and health-care use can affect county placement.
Reporting year2023
GeographyCounty of residence
Counties ranked62 of 62
Rate typeCrude · not age-adjusted
The county story
Several WNY counties sit above the statewide reported rate.
New York's 2023 rate was 42.7 per 10,000 covered adults. Cattaraugus and Genesee placed within the 10 highest county rates; Niagara ranked 18th and Erie ranked 33rd. Placement is ordered from the highest reported prevalence to the lowest.
Genesee County53.6per 10,000 covered adults
#7 of 62- Compared with NYS
- +25.3%
- County percentile
- Higher than 90%
- Identified members
- 220
- Covered denominator
- 41,083
Allegany County51.7per 10,000 covered adults
#15 of 62- Compared with NYS
- +20.9%
- County percentile
- Higher than 77%
- Identified members
- 161
- Covered denominator
- 31,147
Niagara County50.5per 10,000 covered adults
#18 of 62- Compared with NYS
- +18.2%
- County percentile
- Higher than 72%
- Identified members
- 742
- Covered denominator
- 146,811
Chautauqua County47.8per 10,000 covered adults
#23 of 62- Compared with NYS
- +11.9%
- County percentile
- Higher than 64%
- Identified members
- 439
- Covered denominator
- 91,757
Orleans County47.5per 10,000 covered adults
#25 of 62- Compared with NYS
- +11.2%
- County percentile
- Higher than 61%
- Identified members
- 135
- Covered denominator
- 28,394
Erie County45.5per 10,000 covered adults
#33 of 62- Compared with NYS
- +6.5%
- County percentile
- Higher than 48%
- Identified members
- 3,098
- Covered denominator
- 680,225
Wyoming County43.7per 10,000 covered adults
#40 of 62- Compared with NYS
- +2.1%
- County percentile
- Higher than 36%
- Identified members
- 123
- Covered denominator
- 28,172
The vertical marker on each bar is the New York State rate. “Higher than” is the share of the other 61 named counties with a lower reported rate; the dataset's separate “Unknown” residence row is excluded.
Cause and effect
What could shape this pattern—and what the data cannot prove
Parkinson's disease usually cannot be traced to one cause. The most responsible reading separates established risk context, environmental associations, and the limits of this county comparison.
Age, biology, and family history matter.
Risk rises with age, and genes can contribute. For most people, however, no single inherited change or exposure explains the disease.
Some exposures are associated with higher risk.
NIH and NYSDOH identify associations involving certain pesticides, herbicides, and other pollutants or toxins. An association is a signal for investigation—not proof that a particular place caused illness.
The ranking cannot connect exposure to diagnosis.
These records do not include a person's lifetime addresses, occupations, measured exposures, or disease latency, and the public county rates are not age-adjusted.
What a stronger cause-and-effect investigation would need
Age-adjusted individual-level data, consistent case definitions, residential and occupational histories, measured exposure pathways, sufficient latency, comparison populations, confounder control, and results that can be replicated.
Audit table
The numbers behind the placement
| County | Rate / 10,000 | Rank | Higher than | Vs. NYS | Cases | Covered adults |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allegany | 51.7 | 15 of 62 | 77% of counties | +20.9% | 161 | 31,147 |
| Cattaraugus | 56.5 | 5 of 62 | 93% of counties | +32.3% | 307 | 54,297 |
| Chautauqua | 47.8 | 23 of 62 | 64% of counties | +11.9% | 439 | 91,757 |
| Erie | 45.5 | 33 of 62 | 48% of counties | +6.5% | 3,098 | 680,225 |
| Genesee | 53.6 | 7 of 62 | 90% of counties | +25.3% | 220 | 41,083 |
| Niagara | 50.5 | 18 of 62 | 72% of counties | +18.2% | 742 | 146,811 |
| Orleans | 47.5 | 25 of 62 | 61% of counties | +11.2% | 135 | 28,394 |
| Wyoming | 43.7 | 40 of 62 | 36% of counties | +2.1% | 123 | 28,172 |
| New York State | 42.7 | Reference | — | — | 66,139 | 15,471,339 |
How to read this
What this comparison does—and does not—measure
Not age-adjusted
Parkinson's prevalence rises sharply with age. A county with an older covered population may rank higher even if age-specific rates are similar.
Not every resident
The APD omits uninsured residents, certain federal programs, and some self-funded plans. Its denominator is covered members meeting the dataset rules—not the Census population.
Claims identify care
A person must have qualifying diagnosis claims. Differences in access, diagnostic practice, and insurance continuity can affect who appears in the data.
Not an exposure analysis
A county rank cannot show that an environmental site, pesticide, occupation, or other exposure caused any individual diagnosis.
No ZIP inference
The state publishes this measure by county. WNYAtlas will not manufacture ZIP-level points or shaded neighborhoods from a county average.
No comparable MS series
CDC's current public MS surveillance is national and broad-regional. MS is therefore discussed as a data gap, not ranked by New York county.
Source ledger
Official records and visible calculations
Parkinson's Disease and Parkinsonism Prevalence, 2019–2023
New York State Department of Health — All-Payer Database
Annual state, region, and county-of-residence claims-based prevalence for insured adults
Data updated August 3, 2026; this page uses 2023
Open source ↗Parkinson's Disease and Parkinsonism Dashboard
New York State Department of Health
Definitions, inclusion rules, suppression, data-source limitations, and interpretation guidance
Technical notes reviewed August 5, 2026
Open source ↗National Neurological Conditions Surveillance System
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
National and broad regional surveillance work for multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease
Used to document why a comparable public county-level MS series is not shown
Open source ↗Parkinson's Disease
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
Disease overview and established context for age, genetics, family history, and environmental risk factors
Reviewed August 5, 2026
Open source ↗Parkinson's Disease and Environmental Exposures
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
Research summary on pesticides, trichloroethylene, head injuries, and gene-environment interactions
Reviewed August 5, 2026
Open source ↗Page prepared August 5, 2026. Rank 1 is the highest crude county rate. Percent difference is calculated as (county rate ÷ state rate − 1) × 100. Values shown to one decimal may differ slightly from calculations performed using the source dataset's full precision.
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