Live in Essex County? You May Not Be Healthier as a Result

If you live in Essex County, the chances you may live longer, have a better quality of life and practice more healthy behavior than your counterparts in other counties in Massachusetts are not as great.

That's according to a new survey by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin. The survey found that Essex County ranks eighth overall in total health, 11th in quality of life, tenth in the quality of clinical care and sixth in length of life among the other 14 counties in the state.

The survey measures counties by dozens of measures from the length of your commute, how much air pollution there is, and how active people are, to obesity rates, teen birthrates, and how many uninsured people there are to death rates, access to exercise opportunities, and how many doctors there are.

The survey also found that Essex County ranked ninth in physical environment, which encompasses air pollution, drinking water violations, severe housing problems and commuting times

Researchers claim that "very year, nearly 2,200 deaths in Massachusetts could be avoided if all residents in the state had a fair chance to be healthy."

You can go here for all the data not just for Middlesex County but for all of the counties in the Commonwealth.