Middlesex County Among Healthiest Communities In 2022: U.S. News

EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ — Middlesex County is among the healthiest communities in the United States, according to a new ranking by U.S. News & World Report.

The fifth annual report which was released Wednesday in collaboration with CVS Health highlights the healthiest 500 counties in the United States.

Middlesex County was ranked 9th in the state and 337th across the country.

To rank each area, U.S. News looked at how nearly 3,000 U.S. counties performed in 89 metrics across 10 health-related categories. A new environmental category was introduced to this year's list. It was included to help account for the growing threat of climate change.

The categories are based on factors key to evaluating community health identified by the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics — a policy advisory board to the head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — as part of its Measurement Framework for Community Health and Well-Being.

Here is how Middlesex scored on various categories:

• Population health: The life expectancy in Middlesex County is 81.7 years, compared to the national median of 77.5 years. Around 9 percent of the population has no health insurance. Across the country, 11 percent of the population has no health insurance.
• Education: The high school graduation rate in Middlesex county is 92.7, and the national median is 89.4 percent. Over 50 percent of the County's population has an advanced degree.
• Economy: The unemployment rate in the County is 8.5 percent, compared to the national median of 6.5 percent. The median household income is $79,437.
• Food and nutrition: At-home food expenditures on fruit and vegetables was 78.85 compared to the national median of 63.74. Households spent less on sodas and the obesity prevalence was 25.5 percent, compared to the national median of 36.2 percent.
• Public safety: The violent crime rate in Middlesex County was 148.6 percent per 100,000, while the national median was 204.5 percent per 100,000.
• Infrastructure: A little over 98 percent of the population has access to broadband connections and the walkability index score was 11.6.
• Community vitality: The homeownership rate in Middlesex County was 63.7 percent compared to the national median of 73.2 percent. The voter participation rate was 69.4 percent, while nationally it was 66 percent.
• Environment: Around 52 percent of the County's population lives within 0.5 miles of a park
• Housing: A little over 35 percent of the population spends at least 30 percent of their income on housing, and they have to work for over 50 work hours to pay for affordable housing.
• Equity: The racial disparity in educational attainment was 0.22 compared to the national median of 0.16.
• U.S. News collected data for its rankings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Census Bureau, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, among others.

You can see the ranking in detail here. Read more about the rankings' methodology.

Using data on natural disasters from the National Risk Index by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), U.S. News found in this year's analysis that Indigenous people are at the greatest risk from natural hazards. They have higher risks from sustained periods of colder temperatures, droughts, flooding in rivers and streams, and wildfires compared with other racial and ethnic groups, the analysis showed.

Tornadoes pose the highest risk to the overall population in the United States and are a particular threat to white, Black and Hispanic populations, the analysis found.

The ranking also revealed connections between top performers on the list and COVID-19 health outcomes. Communities with higher cumulative COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 people have lower rates of postsecondary education, lower life expectancy and lower shares of adults who have recently engaged in leisure-time physical activity, the analysis showed. Communities with higher vaccination rates also had lower rates of death due to COVID-19.

Here are the New Jersey counties that made the cut nationally:

• Morris County, 16th
• Hunterdon County, 27th
• Somerset County, 67th
• Bergen County, 75th
• Sussex County, 228th
• Burlington County, 250th
• Monmouth County, 256th
• Warren County, 330th
• Middlesex County, 337th
• Gloucester County, 408th

See the full ranking for this year's top 500 healthiest communities.

(With reporting from Josh Bakan, Patch staff)

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