How Healthy is the County You Live In?
There are over 3,000 counties in the U.S. -- how does yours compare in quality of life? Researchers from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin's Population Health Institute just released their annual report ranking the nation's counties based on 29 factors, including unemployment, poverty, teen births, access to healthy foods, and smoking. This year, they considered some new factors, too, like housing, transit, and access to mental health providers.
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The findings unearthed some good news: The nation's rate of preventable hospital stays decreased about 20% between 2003 and 2011, teen birth rates have dropped 25% since 2007, and people are smoking a lot less than in past years. But there was some bad news, too: One in five homes is overcrowded. And there are still vast disparities between the healthiest and the least healthy counties. Those living in the least healthy counties have twice the number of premature death rates than those living in the healthiest ones. Plus, there are twice as many kids living in poverty and double the number of teen births in the least healthy counties as in the healthiest ones.
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Here are some more highlights:
- Air pollution: The highest air pollution rates (measured in particles per cubic meter) were found in Tennessee and Kentucky counties, while the California wine country (Napa, Sonoma, and others) enjoys the lowest rates.
- Obesity: Colorado, Wyoming, California's Marin County (the healthiest county in the Sunshine State), and NYC reported some of the lowest obesity rates, while the South, particularly Mississippi, has some of the highest.
- Childhood poverty: Mississippi topped the list with over 50% of children in poverty in seven of its counties, while Northern Virginia's Falls Church had the lowest rate, at 3%.
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- High school graduation: The highest four-year high school graduation rates were found in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Texas, as well as Oklahoma. The lowest by far are in Segwick County, Colorado (17%).
- Long commutes: Researchers pointed out that driving to work "leads to thousands of deaths and injuries and exposes us to air pollution. It also contributes to physical inactivity and obesity." Counties in Kentucky, Georgia, Texas, and Maryland have the most long-commute drivers (over 60%), "long-commute" meaning over 30 minutes. The counties with the lowest percentages of long-commuters (0-2%) were all in Alaska, except Nantucket, Massachusetts -- a little island where you don't have far to drive.
- By Natalie Gontcharova
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