WASHINGTON — When it comes to positive health outcomes, two counties in the D.C. area top the lists of their respective states.
The latest County Health Rankings & Roadmaps report ranks Loudoun County the highest among locales in the Commonwealth. In Maryland, Montgomery County ranked highest.
The yearly report — released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin’s Population Health Institute — evaluates 30 factors such as poverty, education, transportation, housing, violent crime, jobs and access to medical care.
“Where we live definitely matters for our health,” says Julie Willems Van Dijk, co-director of the County Health Rankings & Roadmaps Report.
The report finds that seven of the 10 locales with the highest health outcomes in the commonwealth were in Northern Virginia:
- Loudoun
- Fairfax
- Arlington
- Albemarle
- York
- Poquoson City
- Stafford
- Falls Church City
- Prince William
- Alexandria City
The report provided data for 134 counties and cities in Virginia.
In Maryland, Howard and Carroll counties ranked second and third, after Montgomery County:
- Montgomery
- Howard
- Carroll
- Frederick
- Harford
- Queen Anne’s
- Calvert
- Talbot
- Anne Arundel
- St. Mary’s
The report provided data for Maryland’s 23 counties plus the city of Baltimore, which ranked last. Prince George’s County ranked 16th.
Now in its seventh year, the County Health Rankings report has added three new measures of health — insufficient sleep, drug overdose deaths and residential segregation.
Willems Van Dijk says it’s not uncommon to see two counties right next to each other faring very differently. Social and economic challenges help explain the stark difference in health outcomes, for example, between Montgomery and Prince George’s counties.
“Some of the things that I see when I compare Prince George’s County and Montgomery County are certainly some of those factors that describe social and economic health in the community that we know have a special influence on how long we live and how well we live,” Willems Van Dijk says.
Prince George’s County has lower high school graduation rates, a higher percentage of children living in poverty and high levels of violent crime. In the health factors category, Prince George’s County has higher rates of smoking and obesity.
Because each county is evaluated using the same criteria, Willems Van Dijk says it’s not unfair to compare overall county health rankings between Maryland and Virginia, which is much bigger.
“It is fair to say ‘the top five.’ It’s just that you’re reporting on a smaller percentage of the counties in Virginia than you are in Maryland,” Willems Van Dijk says.
The District of Columbia is included in the survey with rankings for specific categories that can be compared against the nation’s top-performing counties. Willems Van Dijk said the data show that D.C. has social and economic challenges similar to Prince George’s County.
Willems Van Dijk says the District is experiencing “significant improvement” in the overall rate of premature death.
“One of the things we’re encouraged by is, we are seeing decreasing rates of premature death in many, many counties across the nation. And that’s good news. We’re moving in the right direction,” Willems Van Dijk says.
The Virginia numbers tell a tale of two Commonwealths. The more urban, more wealthy northern part of Virginia fared much better in health, while counties within the more rural southern and southwestern parts suffered.
“This is a trend not just in Virginia, but one that we see nationally,” Willems Van Dijk says.
Another national trend is the decreasing rates of premature death in urban, smaller metro and suburban areas, though the rates are increasing in rural areas.
Willems Van Dijk said information provided by the report can help community leaders identify areas of concern that need action plans to perhaps create new outcomes.
A few years ago, Spokane, Washington, had poor high school graduation rates — similar to what D.C. and Prince George’s are experiencing now. Community leaders aggressively investigated root causes, then created and implemented action plans that are making a difference.
“And in only a few short years that graduation rate has moved from 60 percent to 80 percent.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect that Loudoun County ranked the highest for health outcomes in Virginia.
