2018 County Health Rankings

How Healthy is Your Community?

The annual Rankings provide a revealing snapshot of how health is influenced by where we live, learn, work and play. They provide a starting point for change in communities. 

 See how Utah is doing: http://www.countyhealthrankings.org/

Summary of Findings

• After nearly a decade of improvement, there are early signs that the percentage of babies born at low birthweight may be on the rise (8.2% in 2016, a 2% increase from 2014). Low birthweight is a key measure of health and quality of life. Babies are much more likely to be born at low birthweight in some communities than others. In all 50 states, there is a higher percentage of Black low birthweight babies than for other racial groups. These percentages exceed those for low birthweight babies born in the typical bottom performing county in each state.
• Some places and groups of people have fewer social and economic opportunities, which also limit their ability to be healthy. More than 1 out of every 5 youth in the bottom performing counties do not graduate from high school in four years. For American Indian/Alaskan Native, Black, and Hispanic youth, it is 1 out of 4. In 2016, the unemployment rate for adults in the bottom performing counties was 7.5 percent, more than twice that of adults in the top performing counties (3.2%). American Indian/Alaskan Native and Black adults experienced the highest unemployment rates (10.5% and 9.9%, respectively), while Whites and Asians experienced lower rates of unemployment (4.2% and 3.5%, respectively).
• Residential segregation provides a clear example of the link between race and place. For instance, in smaller metro and large urban counties, Black residents face greater barriers to health and opportunity. Black residents have higher rates of child poverty, low birthweight, and infant mortality, and lower high school graduation rates than White residents. Black residents are also more affected by levels of segregation than White residents. Black children and youth in more segregated counties fare worse in rates of child poverty and high school graduation than Black residents in less segregated counties.
• Child poverty rates remain at levels higher than those of the pre-recession era despite declines in recent years. Patterns of recovery vary by both race and place. Child poverty rates have been slow to rebound in rural counties and in those with a greater share of people of color. This is important because we also know that a healthy beginning is essential to a healthy future for our nation’s children.
• Teen birth rates have been declining across community types and racial groups for more than a decade. Hispanic teens have seen the most improvement with rates falling from 77.7 to 31.9 per 1,000 females, ages 15-19. Black and American Indian/Alaskan Native teens have also seen notable improvements. Yet gaps by place and race persist. For example, teens in rural counties have seen the least improvement and continue to have the highest birth rates, nearly twice the rate of teens in suburban counties. American Indian/Alaskan Native, Hispanic, and Black teens have birth rates twice as high as White or Asian teens.