Chester County Among Nation's Healthiest Communities: U.S. News

Chester County is in the top echelon of the nation's healthiest communities, new rankings say.

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.

Chester County placed 117th overall, just behind Pennsylvania leader Montgomery County (110th) and ahead of Bucks (174). Those were the only three southeastern Pennsylvania counties to make the list.

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

• Population Health: 77.5
• Equity: 38.4
• Education: 81.9
• Economy: 87.5
• Housing: 57.2
• Food & Nutrition: 55.7
• Environment: 50.9
• Public Safety: 66.8
• Community Vitality: 63.1
• Infrastructure: 71.6

The top overall 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.

Seven Pennsylvania communities made the top 500 healthiest communities list. The communities that made the list are:

• 110: Montgomery
• 117: Chester
• 174: Bucks
• 256: Cumberland
• 277: Butler
• 303: Montour
• 447: Elk

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:

• Douglas County, Colorado
• Los Alamos County, New Mexico
• Falls Church City, Virginia
• Loudoun County, Virginia
• Broomfield County, Colorado

• Teton County, Wyoming
• Chaffee County, Colorado
• Morgan County, Utah
• Routt County, Colorado
• Jefferson County, Montana

• Houston County, Minnesota
• Hood River County, Oregon
• Bennington County, Vermont
• Island County, Washington
• Marquette County, Michigan

• Wallowa County, Oregon
• Lincoln County, Washington
• Calhoun County, Iowa
• Iron County, Wisconsin
• Baylor County, Texas

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.