News

Researchers Release County-by-County Health Report Card

"County Health Rankings: Mobilizing Action Toward Community Health," a health report card for almost every one of the nation's more than 3,000 counties, is being released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin's Population Health Institute. 

The report is useful in showing the health gaps at the local level while also serving as a motivator to local health officials to make improvements. 

The report ranks each county in two ways: "Health Outcomes" and "Health Factors." Health outcomes are derived from a county's disease and death rates.
The health factors rating is more complex, taken from sources that keep tabs on obesity rates, tobacco use and alcohol consumption. Social and economic factors, such as unemployment, income and community safety, also were accounted for in addition to access to health care and environmental factors.  Click to learn more about the report card.