5 North Carolina Communities Among Healthiest In U.S.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Five North Carolina communities 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.

U.S. News evaluated 3,000 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. North Carolina communities also ranked in the two up-and-coming 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 are the North Carolina communities that ranked among the 500 healthiest in the U.S.:

• Orange County (214)
• Wake County (221)
• Transylvania County (328)
• Polk County (417)
• Union County (476)

Here are the North Carolina communities that were ranked in the urban up-and-coming category:

• Transylvania County (5)
• Watauga County (16)
• Madison County (31)
• Haywood County (44)
• Jackson County (60)
• Camden County (66)
• Brunswick County (86)
• Carteret County (92)

Here are the North Carolina communities that were ranked in the rural up-and-coming category:

• Yancey County (13)
• Mitchell County (42)
• Ashe County (63)
• Cherokee County (73)
• Swain County (75)
• Hyde County (92)

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

• Falls Church City, Virginia
• Douglas County, Colorado
• Broomfield County, Colorado
• Los Alamos County, New Mexico
• Dukes County, Massachusetts
• Fairfax City, Virginia
• Hamilton County, Indiana
• Routt County, Colorado
• Ouray County, Colorado
• 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.

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