Healthy Communities Ranked 1 to 500

Environmental & Science Education
Sustainability
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Edward Hessler

There is something about lists and rankings that grab the attention of many of us.

One grabbed me today, the ranking of America's Healthiest Communities by U.S. News and World Report and the Aetna Foundation.

Ten health-related criteria and nearly 80 metrics were used in making this judgement about nearly 3000 counties (roughly 325 million Americans). These are population health, equity, education, economy, housing, food & nutrition, environment, public safety, community vitality and infrastructure. The full methodology is described here.

Falls Church, Fairfax County,Virginia was declared the healthiest community in America.

Among my questions about the rankings was how well Minnesota fared and, of course, whether I live in one.

And here are the full rankings. The first Minnesota entry is Carver County at #13. I think Stevens County at #481 is the last Minnesota entry.

An honor roll spotlights 36 top-performing communities. It includes Big Stone, Carver and Sibley counties in Minnesota.

And here are some FAQs to help in understanding the rankings.

You can search by county or zipcode to check the score of a county. My boyhood county, Chenango County, NY scored at 60 and Ramsey County, MN where I currently live, scored 63. Neither made the cut.  Well, I live next door to one or two counties that did

h/t: Andrew Joseph, Morning Round, STAT, March 26, 2018