Today, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the UW Population Health Institute released their annual County Health Rankings and Roadmaps.  The annual ranking of Wisconsin counties was initiated by the UW Population Health Institute many years ago, and this became a national project with the RWJ Foundation five years ago. It now ranks almost every county in the nation, including all 72 Wisconsin counties, based on 29 health outcomes and indicators.

Examples of specific measures used to calculate the rankings include: rates of childhood poverty, rates of smoking, obesity levels, teen birth rates, access to physicians and dentists, rates of high school graduation and college attendance, access to healthy foods, levels of physical inactivity, and percentages of children living in single parent households. Learn more here.

While the rankings show how each county is doing relative to others and where there is room for improvement, the County Health Roadmaps show what we can do to make our communities healthier places to live, learn, work and play.  It provides communities with “information to help select and implement evidence-informed policies, programs, and system changes that will improve the variety of factors we know affect health.”

In Wisconsin, the healthiest county is Ozaukee, followed by Kewaunee, Portage, Taylor and Door. The least healthy Wisconsin counties are Menominee and Milwaukee.  You can find the Wisconsin rankings here.

In an article today on Biztimes.com, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and Milwaukee Health Commissioner Bevan Baker pointed out that social and economic factors play a major role in “determining the health of a person, a city, or a nation.”  Commissioner Baker elaborated on that point:

“The chronic stress of living in poverty doesn’t just reduce people’s ability to engage in healthy behaviors,” said Baker. “It also directly affects people’s health through chronic increases in stress hormones in the body which make women more likely to deliver premature babies and lead directly to high blood pressure and many other chronic diseases over a lifetime.”

Have some fun exploring the project’s interactive website, and help your county (and our state) move in a healthier direction.

Jon Peacock