U.S. News drops healthiest communities list. Where did Sarasota land in Florida rankings?
Los Alamos County, New Mexico, takes the top spot in the fifth annual Healthiest Communities rankings, compiled by U.S. News & World Report, in collaboration with CVS Health, for the third year in a row.
Communities were rated in 10 separate categories: population health, equity, education, economy, food & nutrition, environment, public safety, community vitality and infrastructure.
No Florida county ranked in the top 100 and only two were ranked in the top 500 – St. Johns County was ranked at 181 and Seminole County at 466.
Sarasota County was actually the third-ranked community in Florida, with an average score of 62 — which was aided greatly by an 81 in infrastructure, which was based on walkability, commute times and internet access.
St. Johns County had scored 72 points overall in the ranking system and Seminole County 64.
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Among area counties, Charlotte and Manatee counties both scored 51, DeSoto County scored 20, Collier County 55 and Lee County 50.
Pinellas County scored a 57 and Hillsborough County 52.
Falls Church, Virginia, is No. 2, while Douglas County, Colorado, is No. 3. Completing the top five are Morgan County, Utah and Carver County, Minnesota, at Nos. 4 and 5, respectively. Each of the top three counties in this year's rankings has been ranked No. 1 in a previous edition of Healthiest Communities.
For more information on the rankings, visit: https://bit.ly/3HI0p4B.
About Healthiest Communities list
The project serves as a tool to inform residents, community health leaders and elected officials about policies and best practices for better health outcomes by assessing which communities offer their citizens the greatest opportunity to live a productive, healthy life.
The 2022 edition of the Healthiest Communities list incorporated new data on environmental health, and is accompanied by an analysis showing which types of natural disasters pose the greatest threats to various racial and ethnic populations.
New this year in the Environment category of the rankings, data on natural disasters from FEMA’s National Risk Index highlights the threats faced by communities across the country. According to an accompanying U.S. News analysis of the index and U.S. Census Bureau data, Indigenous people are the most at risk from natural hazards.
They have higher risks when it comes to sustained periods of colder temperatures, droughts, river and stream flooding, and wildfires compared with other racial and ethnic groups.
"The data behind the Healthiest Communities rankings provides a deep dive into the state of health equity in our country," Kim Castro, editor and chief content officer at U.S. News, said in a prepared statement. “By examining data on natural hazards, we can see how various demographic populations are affected by the risks tied to their environment."
The Healthiest Communities project includes additional resources alongside the rankings.
For the third year in a row, county-level coronavirus data on metrics such as cases, deaths and vaccination rates are available through the COVID-19 and Your Community data hub.
Along with the analysis of demographics and disaster risk, U.S. News is publishing editorial pieces that explore the reasons for Los Alamos 1 County's continued success as America's Healthiest Community, and highlight the top-performing counties by key rankings metrics and categories, such as Population Health, Public Safety, Education, Mental Health and Life Expectancy.
“We all know the significant impact that social determinants have on the health and well-being of individuals and our local communities,” Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, vice president and chief health equity officer, CVS Health, said in the same statement. “The data we collect helps us determine the best way to collaborate with communities to develop sustainable solutions and advance health equity in a way that meets their unique needs.”
Key findings of the report include:
• Four of the top 20 Healthiest Communities are in Northern Virginia: Falls Church (No. 2), Loudoun County (No. 12), Arlington County (No. 13) and Fairfax County (No. 17).
• The states with the highest median overall scores in the analysis are Rhode Island, Minnesota and Iowa, while the lowest are found in Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas.
• Communities with lower scores in the Mental Health subcategory tend to have lower life expectancies, lower median household incomes and lower labor force participation, as well as higher rates of poverty.
• Rural communities are more likely to have higher shares of adults reporting frequent mental distress, and urban communities are more likely to have higher shares of Medicare beneficiaries diagnosed with depression.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: U.S. News & World Report releases healthiest communities rankings
