Virginia city home to healthiest community in America, says US News: 5 things to know

Kelly Gooch -

Falls Church, Va., tops U.S. News & World Report's inaugural rankings of healthiest communities across the country.

The rankings, released March 26, are part of a collaborative project conducted by U.S. News & World Report and Hartford, Conn.-based Aetna's charitable foundation. For the project, researchers scored nearly 3,000 counties on approximately 80 indicators across the following 10 categories: population health, equity, education, economy, housing, food and nutrition, environment, public safety, community vitality and infrastructure. The communities received a score for each category on a scale of zero to 100. The most heavily weighted categories were population health and equity at 14.15 percent and 12.23 percent, respectively.

Here are five things to know.

1. Falls Church, Va., ranked No. 1 with a population health score of 89.7 and an equity score of 59.2. The city scored a 100 overall.

2. Here are the remaining nine communities named to the top 10 listed with their overall scores:

  • Douglas County, Colo. (98.4)
  • Broomfield County, Colo. (93.9)
  • Los Alamos County, N.M. (93.7)
  • Dukes County, Mass. (92.4)
  • Fairfax, Va. (91.6)
  • Hamilton County, Ind. (91.6)
  • Routt County, Colo. (90.6)
  • Ouray County, Colo. (90.5)
  • Loudoun County, Va. (90.4)

3. Emmet County, Iowa, ranked No. 500 with a population health score of 70.3 and an equity score of 45.9.

4. Just above Emmet County, Iowa, were Jerauld County, S.D. (No. 499), Cache County, Utah (No. 498), Rockingham County, Va. (No. 497), Sonoma County, Calif. (No. 496) and McIntosh County, N.D. (No. 495).

5. Although Falls Church, Va., ranked No. 1 overall, Olmsted County, Minn., received the highest score for population health at 100. Davis County, Utah, and Utah County, Utah, received a perfect score of 100 in infrastructure. Additionally, Falls Church, Va., scored 100 in education, Nassau County, N.Y., scored 100 in public safety, Judith Basin County, Mont., scored 100 in housing, and Loudoun County, Va., scored 100 in economy. Custer County, Colo., scored 100 in both community vitality and environment.

Read more about the rankings here.

 

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