11 Washington Counties Among 500 Healthiest In U.S.

FRIDAY HARBOR, WA - Island life apparently agrees with Washington residents.

Eleven counties in the state ranked among the healthiest in the United States, according to rankings released by U.S. News & World Report on Monday. The rankings, compiled in collaboration with the Aetna Foundation, present a list of the 500 healthiest American communities.

No Washington county cracked the top 50, but San Juan County was ranked the healthiest in the state at No. 90.

U.S. News evaluated 3000 communities across 10 categories to determine the rankings. In addition to the overall rankings, U.S. News also ranked communities across four groups: urban high-performing, urban up-and-coming, rural high-performing and rural up-and-coming. Georgia communities also ranked in the latter three categories.

“Research has shown that in the United States, your ZIP code is a greater predictor of your life expectancy than your genetic code,” Mark T. Bertolini, chairman of the Aetna Foundation and chairman and CEO of Aetna, said in a press release. “In other words, where you live has a significant impact on your overall health.”

Here’s the Washington counties that ranked among the 500 healthiest in the U.S.:

• San Juan County (90)
• Jefferson County (120)
• Thurston County (220)
• Lincoln County (255)
• Island County (257)
• King County (319)
• Whatcom County (374)
• Snohomish County (380)
• Kitsap County (406)
• Whitman County (477)
• Clark County (489)

The top 10 healthiest communities in the U.S. are:

1. Falls Church City, Virginia
2. Douglas County, Colorado
3. Broomfield County, Colorado
4. Los Alamos County, New Mexico
5. Dukes County, Massachusetts
6. Fairfax City, Virginia
7. Hamilton County, Indiana
8. Routt County, Colorado
9. Ouray County, Colorado
10. Loudoun County, Virginia

The rankings were compiled by evaluating how communities performed across 80 metrics in 10 categories: population health, equity, education, economy, housing, food and nutrition, environment, public safety, community vitality and infrastructure. U.S. News collaborated with the University of Missouri Center for Applied Research and Engagement Systems (CARES) to collect and analyze data. The data was collected from government and private sources. (Read the full methodology here)

You can see the full rankings here.