These NC Cities have the Least Access to Quality Healthcare

When it comes to accessibility of quality healthcare and related resources, not all locations are equal. In North Carolina, there are four cities where residents do not have as much access to resources as they do in other places in the country. These cities include Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Fayetteville, and Charlotte.

A recent analysis of the 200 largest cities in the United States reveals the best and worst locations in terms of accessibility to quality healthcare. The analysis ranked the cities based on eight different factors, including the number of doctors and nurses per local residents, total number of healthcare workers per 100k residents, healthcare facilities per 100k residents, the percentage of residents without insurance, average emergency room wait time, and more.

While only four North Carolina cities were listed in the 50 worst cities for quality healthcare, there were no North Carolina cities on the “best” list.

A weighted ranking system of 1-100 where higher scores indicate better quality healthcare revealed that there’s a wide spectrum of cities all over the country where locals don’t have access to the health care resources they need, for one reason or another. Greensboro, Winston Salem, Fayetteville, and Charlotte all scored below 33 points. This is to say that the quality of healthcare in these four cities is lacking -- but how?

Greensboro has a low number of healthcare facilities and workers per 100k residents in that area. Additionally, over 16% of Greensboro residents couldn’t, or can’t, afford healthcare insurance. Overall, Greensboro scored a cumulative 27.5 points on the 100 point scale.

Winston-Salem has a higher number of uninsured individuals (22%), but this city is home to more doctors and nurses than Greensboro. Scoring a cumulative 29.3, Winston-Salem isn’t faring much better than Greensboro. Fayetteville scored 29.7 total, with one reason being that the average ER wait time is lower there than in Greensboro and Winston-Salem.

Charlotte, finally, finished with the highest score of the Carolina cities at 32.4. With a lower number of uninsured individuals, higher number of doctors and nurses, as well as a low average ER wait time, Charlotte does have better healthcare resources than the aforementioned cities, but not by too much.

It’s clear there is a disparity in receiving quality healthcare across the country. To see the full study, click here.