The Maternal Vulnerability Index:
Predictable, Place-Based, and Preventable

Surgo Health's Maternal Vulnerability Index (MVI) is the nation's leading place-based tool for understanding where and why maternal health outcomes are at greatest risk. Originally released in 2021 and now available with 2025 data, the MVI scores every U.S. geography — from states to census tracts — on a scale of 0–100 across six key drivers of maternal vulnerability: Reproductive Healthcare, Physical Health, Mental Health & Substance Use, General Healthcare, Socioeconomic Determinants, and Physical Environment.

Maternal risk in the United States is not random. It is predictable, place-based, and preventable. Yet too often, decision-makers rely on state-level averages that mask the communities most in need, or deploy uniform interventions that miss the local drivers behind poor outcomes. The MVI changes that.

Validated against maternal mortality, severe maternal morbidity, preterm birth, low birthweight, stillbirth, and infant mortality, the MVI gives health systems, government agencies, philanthropies, and researchers the precision intelligence they need to allocate resources, design interventions, and advocate for policies that match the realities of communities.

Our latest report, Predictable, Place-Based, and Preventable: What the Updated Maternal Vulnerability Index Tells Us, examines the current landscape of maternal vulnerability across the U.S., the compounding risks posed by Medicaid cuts and rural hospital closures, and the disproportionate burden experienced by Black, Hispanic/Latina, and American Indian/Alaska Native women.

For more information or to access the data, contact us at [email protected].