Montgomery County was named the healthiest county in Maryland in the 2015 County Health Rankings compiled by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. The new rankings were released Wednesday.
The county also came in first in the 2014 rankings and second in 2013.
The rankings take into account negative health factors such as the prevalence of obesity, smokers, and excessive drinking as well as positive factors including access to exercise opportunities, high school graduation rates and the number of medical providers.
The county ranked either first or second in the state in five of the six categories evaluated in the rankings: length of life, quality of life, health behaviors, clinical care and social and economic factors.
The county ranked eighth in physical environment qualities. Fifty-two percent of those surveyed reported driving more than 30 minutes in their car alone while 18 percent said they experienced overcrowding in their households or high housing costs in the county.
Howard, Frederick, Carroll and St. Mary’s counties rounded out the top five healthiest counties in Maryland.
According to the rankings, about 9 percent of Montgomery residents were in poor or fair health, about 8 percent of adults smoked, and 19 percent of adults are obese. Other factors weighed by the rankings include the county’s 5.1 percent unemployment rate and 77 percent of residents who attended at least some college. Both figures were significantly better than state and national averages.
The rankings study uses data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics. This is the sixth year the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a public health philanthropic foundation based in Princeton, New Jersey, has conducted the rankings.
