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In County Rankings, NoCO Is Pretty Healthy, DougCO Ranks Number One

County Health Rankings
/
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

People in Northern Colorado counties are healthier than in most other parts of the state.

That's the finding of an annual report which ranked Colorado’s 64 counties based on factors like high school graduation rates, tobacco use, access to healthy food as well as teen births and obesity. Broomfield County came in second and Boulder County ranked third. Larimer rose to 10th place from their 2014 position, while Weld County ranked 35th.

Douglas County ranked No. 1 in the health factors analysis, just as it was in the most recent Kids Count report. Denver was toward the bottom at 48th.

The report, compiled by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, found that the state overall was below the national median on many key health indicators, such as adult obesity and smoking but there were some surprising results.

Eighteen percent of Colorado adults reported excessive binge drinking compared to the national average of 16 percent. Thirty-four percent of driving deaths involved alcohol in Colorado, 3 percent higher than the national average.

Sexually transmitted infections were far higher in Colorado. According to the report, the number of newly diagnosed Chlamydia cases per 100,000 people on average in the U.S. is 291. In Colorado, the number jumps to 417.

Seventeen percent of Colorado homes had overcrowding, high housing costs or lack of kitchen or plumbing facilities compared to the national average of 14 percent.

County Rankings

Credit County Health Rankings / Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
/
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Communities use the rankings to identify and garner support for local health improvement initiatives.

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