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A new set of reports released this week rank the health of more than 3,000 U.S. counties and show that much of what affects health occurs outside of the doctor’s office.
The County Health Rankings, in their second year and led by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), confirm the critical role that factors such as education, jobs, income, and environment play in how healthy people are and how long they live.
See this map to find your county.
Some highlights of what counties look like nationally:
- People are nearly twice as likely to be in fair or poor health in the unhealthiest counties;
- Unhealthy counties have significantly lower high school graduation rates;
- Unhealthy counties have more than twice as many children in poverty;Unhealthy counties have much fewer grocery stores or farmer’s markets; and
- Unhealthy counties have much higher rates of unemployment
“Where we live, learn, work and play affect our health, and we need to use the information from the rankings to shine a spotlight on where we need to improve so we can take action to address our problems,” said Dr. Patrick Remington, director of the County Health Rankings project.
Also, check out the County Health Calculator to see education and income ranks in your county:
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