Lake County Among Healthiest Counties In U.S.

Fourteen Illinois counties, including Lake County, have been ranked among the healthiest in the United States, according to rankings released by U.S. News & World Report on Monday. The rankings, compiled in collaboration with the Aetna Foundation, present a list of the 500 healthiest American communities.

U.S. News evaluated 3,000 communities across 10 categories to determine the rankings. In addition to the overall rankings, U.S. News also ranked communities across four groups: urban high-performing, urban up-and-coming, rural high-performing and rural up-and-coming. Illinois communities also ranked in the urban up-and-coming and rural up-and-coming categories.

In Illinois, Kendall County received the highest ranking at 156. Lake County received a ranking of 363. Some factors that lead to that ranking include:

• Life expectancy in Lake County is 81 years, which is above the national medium of 77.9 years.
• The smoking rate is 13.6 percent, which is below the national median of 17.3 percent
• Ten percent of the population does not have health insurance, which is also below the national median of 12.9 percent.
• Obesity prevalence: 27.8 percent in Lake County compared to 31 percent for the national median
• Population within .5 miles of a park: 63.5 percent in the county compared to 14.6 percent for the national median
• Workers commuting 60 minutes or more: 12.4 percent in the county compared to 6.4 percent for the national median

"Research has shown that in the United States, your ZIP code is a greater predictor of your life expectancy than your genetic code," Mark T. Bertolini, chairman of the Aetna Foundation and chairman and CEO of Aetna, said in a press release. "In other words, where you live has a significant impact on your overall health."

Here's the Illinois communities that ranked among the 500 healthiest in the U.S.:

• Kendall County (156)
• Monroe County (159)
• DuPage County (160)
• Tazewell County (194)
• Piatt County (282)
• Woodford County (292)
• McHenry County (298)
• Grundy County (360)
• Lake County (363)
• Ogle County (397)
• Jo Daviess County (400)
• Putnam County (454)
• Schuyler County (470)
• Clinton County (493)

Here are the Illinois communities that were ranked in the rural up-and-coming category:

• Richland County (36)
• Hamilton County (62)
• Wayne County (70)
• Union County (80)

Here are the Illinois communities that were ranked in the urban up-and-coming category:

• Hancock County (32)
• Mercer County (37)
• Henry County (40)
• Adams County (57)
• LaSalle County (58)
• Marshall County (67)
• Ford County (69)
• Williamson County (77)
• Morgan County (96)
• Livingston County (97)

The top 10 healthiest communities in the U.S. are:

1. Falls Church City, Virginia
2. Douglas County, Colorado
3. Broomfield County, Colorado
4. Los Alamos County, New Mexico
5. Dukes County, Massachusetts
6. Fairfax City, Virginia
7. Hamilton County, Indiana
8. Routt County, Colorado
9. Ouray County, Colorado
10. Loudoun County, Virginia

The rankings were compiled by evaluating how communities performed across 80 metrics in 10 categories: population health, equity, education, economy, housing, food and nutrition, environment, public safety, community vitality and infrastructure. U.S. News collaborated with the University of Missouri Center for Applied Research and Engagement Systems (CARES) to collect and analyze data. The data was collected from government and private sources. (Read the full methodology here)

You can see the full rankings here.

Written by Shannon Antinori

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