Fairfax County Among Top 25 Healthiest U.S. Communities

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — Fairfax County has been named the 21st healthiest community in the U.S. by U.S. News & World Report.

U.S. News & World Report released the rankings this week in collaboration with the Aetna Foundation. Nearly 3,000 counties and county equivalents were analyzed using 10 categories containing a total of 84 different metrics. Categories and subcategories are derived from community health factors identified by the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics. The final categories for the U.S. News were developed in coordination with population health experts and include an equity category.

Categories include factors such as access to health care, air and water quality, public safety, housing and community vitality. Communities were given a score out of 100 points based on their performance compared to other places across metrics and categories. The data used for this year's rankings came from a period before the COVID-19 pandemic; therefore, community health had not yet been affected by the virus.

Fairfax County received a score of 80. Some of its top category scores were 99 for population health, 86 for economy, and 82 for infrastructure. The county's average life expectancy of 83.7 years is higher than the national median of 77.9 years. In addition, it has 9 percent of people without health insurance compared to the national median of 10.6 percent.

This year's top five Healthiest Communities scored above the national average in at least eight of the 10 categories. The City of Falls Church and Loudoun County made the top 10.

Here's a look at the top 10 Healthiest Communities for 2020.

1. Los Alamos County, New Mexico
2. Douglas County, Colorado
3. City of Falls Church, Virginia
4. Broomfield County, Colorado
5. Routt County, Colorado
6. Loudoun County, Virginia
7. Pitkin County, Colorado
8. Carver County, Minnesota
9. Summit County, Colorado
10. San Miguel County, Colorado

See the full list and learn more about 2020's Healthiest Communities.