OBJECTIVES: To assess the relationship between self-reported health status and lifestyle, access to health care and individual characteristics using a U.S. representative sample. METHODS: A cross-sectional study using the 2011 US Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) Survey database was performed.  A structural equation model (SEM) was applied to investigate individual characteristics factors (age, body mass index (BMI), income and education levels), lifestyle factors (fruit, vegetable and alcohol consumptions and exercise levels), and access to health care factors (statuses on insurance, private health care provider and barrier to health service due to cost) that influence various self-reported health statuses (general health status, physical health status and mental health status). RESULTS: The mean age of the study population was about 43.5 years with 51.2% being female. The measures of model fitness (RMSEA<0.05 is 0.951; GFI=0.954) showed the internal structure of the model was acceptable and the observed variables would suffice in accounting for latent variables. The proportion of variance in each indicator was explained well by its respective latent variable (e.g. 58.7% of variance in general health, 60.4% in insurance and 59.0% in income were explained).  All independent latent variables (access to health care, individual characteristics and lifestyle) were significantly associated with health status. Individual characteristics factors have the largest effect (β=0.719) on health status, followed by lifestyle factors (β=0.141) and access to health care factors (β=0.136). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings show that improved access to health care and lifestyle were associated with increased self-reported health status.  In particular, older individuals with high BMI index and low socioeconomic status were more likely to report worse health status.