Harford County Among 350 Healthiest Communities: U.S. News

HARFORD COUNTY, MD — Harford County is among the healthiest communities in the U.S., according to new rankings compiled by U.S. News & World Report and the Aetna Foundation. After evaluating nearly 3,000 communities, the agencies said that Harford County came in No. 338.

Harford slipped from the 2018 rankings, when it was No. 197 among the healthiest communities in the U.S.

For 2019, there were a total of nine Maryland counties on the list:

• Howard County at No. 10
• Montgomery County at No. 71
• Carroll County at No. 240
• Frederick County at No. 301
• Calvert County at No. 313
• Harford County at No. 338
• Anne Arundel County at No. 384
• Charles County at No. 435
• Queen Anne's County at No. 474

Below are the 10 categories the communities were graded on and how Harford County scored.

• Population Health: 67
• Equity: 64
• Education: 59
• Economy: 78
• Housing: 51
• Food & Nutrition: 48
• Environment: 64
• Public Safety: 67
• Community Vitality: 57
• Infrastructure: 60

Within each category, there are several metrics; in total, analysts used 81 measures to review communities.

Harford County earned its highest marks for population health, economy and public safety.

For population health, researchers examined health care access, healthy behaviors, prevalence of health conditions, mental health and resulting health outcomes.

Of note, researchers highlighted these population health stats:

• Life expectancy in Harford County is 79.5 years, versus the national median of 79.
• Smoking rate is 14.7 percent in Harford County, compared with the national median of 15.6.
• There are 4.8 percent of people without health insurance in Harford County, versus the national median of 9.9 percent.
• Teen birth rate is 9.9 in 1,000 in Harford County, versus 22.4 in 1,000 nationally.

To measure the economy, researchers assessed employment metrics, along with opportunity and wealth.

These were among the economic highlights:

• The national median poverty rate is 15.1 percent; in Harford County, it's 7.7 percent.
• The median household income in the U.S. is $56,444.571; in Harford County, it's $81,052.
• The national median unemployment rate is 4.4 percent; in Harford County, it's 3.9 percent.
• Across the U.S., 2.7 percent of households receive public assistance income; in Harford County, the number is 1.7 percent.

To assess public safety, analysts looked at crime rates, first responders and crashes, among other measures.

Here are some of the public safety stats:

• Property crime rate is .01572 in Harford County versus .027165 nationally.
• Homicide rate is 4.3 in Harford County per 100,000, compared with 5.4 in the U.S.
• Vehicle crash fatality rate is 10.5 per 100,000 in Harford County, versus 11.4 nationally.
• First responders make up 1.1 percent of the population in Harford County, versus 0.8 percent in the U.S.

For 2019, Harford County received an overall health score of 66.1 out of 100 in the 2019 healthiest communities rankings.

10 Healthiest Counties In The U.S.

There are 500 U.S. communities evaluated in the study, released Tuesday through a collaboration between U.S. News & World Report and the Aetna Foundation.

Here are the healthiest communities for 2019, according to the rankings:

1. Douglas County, Colorado — score of 100
2. Los Alamos County, New Mexico
3. Falls Church, Virginia (dropping from the No.1 spot in 2018)
4. Loudoun County, Virginia
5. Broomfield County, Colorado
6. Teton County, Wyoming
7. Hamilton County, Indiana
8. Carver County, Minnesota
9. Delaware County, Ohio
10. Howard County, Maryland — score of 84.9

RELATED: Howard County Among 10 Healthiest Communities In Nation

Communities in Colorado are among some of the healthiest in the United States, taking seven of the top 20 spots in the 2019 rankings.

In addition to Colorado, Iowa fared well in the rankings, taking 62 of the top 500 spots.

Urban And Rural Rankings

Along with the overall healthiest communities rankings, U.S. News also created rankings based on the urban or rural status of individual communities.

Those were grouped into four categories: urban high-performing, urban up-and-coming, rural high-performing, and rural up-and-coming.

Below are the top ranked communities in each category:

Urban, High-Performing

• Douglas County, Colorado
• Los Alamos County, New Mexico
• Falls Church City, Virginia
• Loudoun County, Virginia
• Broomfield County, Colorado

Rural, High-Performing

• Teton County, Wyoming
• Chaffee County, Colorado
• Morgan County, Utah
• Routt County, Colorado
• Jefferson County, Montana

Urban, Up-and-Coming

• Houston County, Minnesota
• Hood River County, Oregon
• Bennington County, Vermont
• Island County, Washington
• Marquette County, Michigan

Rural, Up-and-Coming

• Wallowa County, Oregon
• Lincoln County, Washington
• Calhoun County, Iowa
• Iron County, Wisconsin
• Baylor County, Texas

U.S. News worked with the University of Missouri Center for Applied Research and Engagement Systems (CARES) to compile the rankings. The publication also consulted with members of the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics.

Data came from sources like the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

By Patch editors Feroze Dhanoa and Elizabeth Janney.