12 New York Communities Among Country’s Healthiest: U.S. News

Communities in Colorado are among some of the healthiest in the United States, taking seven of the top spots in a newly released set of rankings. A total of 500 U.S. communities are featured in the rankings; graded for various health-related factors like population health and environment.

Released on Tuesday, the 2019 healthiest communities rankings are a joint collaboration between U.S. News & World Report and the Aetna Foundation. 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. Overall, seven Colorado communities ranked among the top 20. Iowa was another state that fared well in the rankings, taking 62 of the top 500 spots.

Twelve New York communities made the top 500 healthiest communities list. The communities that made the list are:

• Saratoga County: 64
• Nassau County: 96
• Putnam County: 119
• Rockland County: 276
• Ontario County: 319
• Suffolk County: 343
• Warren County: 349
• New York County: 413
• Hamilton County: 452
• Tioga County: 469
• Westchester County: 482
• Columbia County: 491

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
• Equity
• Education
• Economy
• Housing
• Food & Nutrition
• Environment
• Public Safety
• Community Vitality
• Infrastructure

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

Below are the top ranked communities in each category for New York:

Urban, High-Performing:

• Saratoga County
• Nassau County
• Putnam County

Urban, Up-and-Coming:

• Steuben County
• Cortland County
• Livingston County
• Otsego County
• Schohaire County
• Washington County

Rural, Up-and-Coming:

• Allegany County

There were no “Rural, High-Performing” counties in New York.

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 Preventions, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.