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Table 2 Comparison of least healthy and healthiest counties by state for selected measurements, 2014 (Source: 2014 County Health Rankings )

From: The County Health Rankings: rationale and methods

  Alla Least healthy (LH)b Healthy (H)c Othersd Ratio (LH/H)
Number of counties 3,027 230 230 2,567  
HEALTH OUTCOMES      
Premature death (years of potential life lost under 75 yrs per 100,000 population) 7,746 10,862 5,113 7,785 2.1
Poor or fair health (%) 17% 20% 11% 17% 1.8
Poor physical healthy days (per month) 3.7 4.4 2.9 3.8 1.5
Poor mental health days (per month) 3.5 4 2.9 3.5 1.4
Low birth weight (% Live births <2500 g) 8% 9% 7% 8% 1.3
HEALTH FACTORS      
Health Behaviors      
Adult smoking (%) 21% 24% 16% 21% 1.5
Adult obesity (%) 31% 32% 27% 31% 1.2
Food environment (Index) 2.4 3.3 1.8 2.4 1.9
Physical inactivity (%) 28% 30% 23% 28% 1.3
Exercise environment (%) 54% 47% 69% 53% 0.7
Binge plus heavy drinking (%) 16% 16% 17% 16% 0.9
Alcohol-impaired driving deaths (%) 31% 31% 30% 32% 1.0
Chlamydia rate (per 100 k) 271 312 214 277 1.5
Teen birth rate (per 1,000 females aged 15–19) 42.4 55.43 21.61 43.53 2.6
Clinical Care      
Uninsured under age 65 (%) 18% 18% 15% 18% 1.2
Primary care physicians (population ratio) 1,980 2,087 1,472 2,003 1.4
Dentists (population ratio) 2,730 2,740 1,973 2,841 1.4
Mental health providers (population ratio) 1,640 1,379 1,131 1,728 1.2
Preventable hospital stays (per 1000 Medicare enrollees) 71 78 56 73 1.4
Diabetic screening (% of diabetic Medicare enrollees) 85% 83% 86% 85% 1.0
Mammography screening (%) 61% 57% 66% 61% 0.9
Social and Economic Factors      
High school graduation (%) 83% 77% 86% 83% 0.9
Some college (%) 55% 49% 68% 54% 0.7
Unemployment (%) 8% 9% 6% 8% 1.5
Children in poverty (%) 24% 31% 15% 24% 2.1
Inadequate social support (%) 19% 23% 17% 19% 1.4
Single-parent household (%) 31% 38% 24% 31% 1.6
Violent crime (per 100 k) 204.55 258.95 156.02 206.97 1.7
Injury mortality (per 100 K) 73 98.3 53.7 73.2 1.8
Physical Environment      
Air pollution – PM2.5 (micrograms per cubic meter) 11.93 11.8 11.5 11.98 1.0
Drinking water violations (%) 1% 3% 1% 1% 3.0
Severe housing problems (%) 14% 15% 14% 13% 1.1
Drives alone to work (%) 80% 78% 78% 80% 1.0
Drives their commute alone for more than 30 minutes (%) 29% 29% 30% 29% 1.0
Additional Measures      
2011 Population Estimate (mean) 26,837 18,300 75,755 26,310 0.2
  1. aWhile there are 3,143 counties and county equivalents in the US, we did not include data for 116 of them. We lack data for 96 counties. The remaining counties were from states with less than 10 counties each (CT, DE, HI, and RI) that were excluded from this analysis.
  2. bThis column combines data for the five least healthy counties (based on the summary health outcome measure) in each state.
  3. cThis column combines data for five healthiest counties (based on the summary health outcome measure) in each state.
  4. dThis column includes all other counties not falling within the five least healthy or five healthiest counties in each state.
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Population Health Metrics

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