US News: Nine NH Counties Listed Among Nation's Healthiest

Nine of New Hampshire's 10 counties are among the healthiest in the United States, according to new set of rankings released this week. A total of 500 U.S. communities are featured in the rankings, graded for various health-related factors like population health and environment.

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 several health-related metrics in 10 categories.

The top 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.

The nine Granite State counties that made the list, along with their rankings, are:

43. Rockingham County
132. Merrimack County
180. Carroll County
215. Grafton County
217. Belknap County
337. Hillsborough County
393. Cheshire County
427. Sullivan County
492. Strafford County

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

Population Health
Equity
Education
Economy
Housing
Food & Nutrition
Environment
Public Safety
Community Vitality
Infrastructure

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:

Urban, High-Performing:

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

Rural, High-Performing:

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

Urban, Up-and-Coming

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

Rural, Up-and-Coming

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

Eight of the nine New Hampshire counties on the list, with the exception of Carroll County, which is listed as Rural, High-Performing, are listed as Urban, High-Performing.

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.