Montgomery Co. Among Healthiest Communities In Nation: U.S. News

BETHESDA, MD — Montgomery County is one of the healthiest communities in America, according to a new list compiled by U.S. News & World Report and the Aetna Foundation. A total of 500 U.S. communities are featured in the rankings and were graded for various health-related factors, like population health and environment.

To come up with the finalized list, U.S. News and the Aetna Foundation evaluated nearly 3,000 communities across multiple health-related metrics in 10 categories.

The top spot on the 2019 list goes to Douglas County, Colorado. Los Alamos County in New Mexico took the No. 2 spot while Falls Church in Virginia ranked No. 3, dropping from the No.1 spot in 2018. Loudoun County in Virginia and Broomfield, County in Colorado came in at No. 4 and No. 5, respectively.

Montgomery County jumped from the No. 95 spot in 2018 to number 71 this year.

The highest marks came in two categories: population health and economy. In population health, Montgomery County scored a 93. The region scored an 88.7 in economy.

Of note, researchers highlighted these population health stats:

• Life expectancy in Montgomery County is 83 years, compared to the national median of 79
• Smoking rate is 7.2 percent in Montgomery County, compared to the national median of 15.6 percent
• There are 7.4 percent of people without health insurance in Montgomery County, compared to the national median of 9.9 percent

To measure the economy, researchers assessed employment metrics, along with opportunity and wealth. These were among the highlights:

• The national media poverty rate is 15.1 percent; in Montgomery County, it's 6.9 percent
• The median household income in the U.S. is $56,444.571; in Montgomery County, it's $100,352
• The national media unemployment rate is 4.4 percent; in Montgomery County, it's 3.3. percent

Metrics Used

Below are the 10 categories the communities were graded on (Several metrics fall under each category and in total 81 metrics were used):

• Population Health: 93
• Equity: 36
• Education: 74
• Economy: 89
• Housing: 47
• Food & Nutrition: 70
• Environment: 70
• Public Safety: 73
• Community Vitality: 51
• Infrastructure: 69

Maryland Counties That Made The Cut

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

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