Report: Placer County ranked 35 in healthiest counties in America

PLACER COUNTY, Calif. — Placer County is ranked as one of the healthiest communities in the U.S., ranking 35, according to the U.S. News and World Report.

The report ranked almost 3,000 counties across the United States and across 10 health-related categories. The next highest California county after Placer is Santa Clara at 40. Half of the top ten healthiest counties were in Colorado as well.

“The broad framework of categories and subcategories is based on factors key to evaluating community health that were identified by the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics – a policy advisory board to the head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,” the report said.

Over a dozen experts in population health helped assign the weights to each category and their importance to community health.

• Population health: 14.2%
• Equity: 12.23%
• Education: 12.15%
• Economy: 11.1%
• Housing: 9.5%
• Food and nutrition: 8.8%
• Environment: 8.6%
• Public safety: 8.5%
• Community Vitality: 7.6%
• Infrastructure: 7.5%

Placer County’s overall rank among the U.S. counties is 35 with an overall score of 82 from the 10 categories.

For population health, the county was judged based on access to care, healthy behaviors, mental health and health conditions among other things.

The report found only 4.6% of the population had no health insurance and the smoking rate was 11.7%, both well below the national medians. Life expectancy is also at 82.2 years, which is about five years higher than the national median.

In the equity category, the county was assessed on income, education, health and social equity.

The overall score was 58 out of a possible 100 points, being one of the county’s lowest categories.

The county is above the national median for racial disparity in education, but below it for the segregation index, meaning that the community is more racially and ethnically integrated than the national median.

In education, Placer County has a 94.6% high school graduation rate and just over half of the population has a secondary degree.

For the economy category, the report measured employment, opportunity and wealth. Peer groups called this category “a backbone to the Healthiest Communities.”

The unemployment and poverty rates of Placer County are both below the national median with poverty rates at about half of the national median. The median household income is also almost $40,000 more than the national median.

This category judged the availability, affordability and quality of homes in the community. This was also the county’s lowest ranking.

Over a third of people in the county are paying at least 30% of their income on housing, but eviction rates are less than 1%. Just over 1% of houses in Placer County are vacant as well.

This category tracks the availability of healthy foods in the community as well as diseases related to poor nutrition, like diabetes and obesity.

Placer County has lower diabetes and obesity prevalence than the national medians as well as more local food outlets per capita than the national median, but almost a third of the population does not have access to a large grocery store.

The environment category measures the natural surroundings as well as the air and water quality, access to parks and other amenities.

In Placer County, 60% of people are within half a mile of a park.

The violent crime rate in Placer County is below the national median and the county spends almost double the national median on health and emergency services.

This category judges the stability and social cohesion of a community.

Placer County has over 70% of the population as homeowners and a 13.7% net migration rate in the county.

This gauges how well residents are able to work and live in the community, measuring things like walkability, commute time and internet access.

Almost 100% of the population has access to internet in Placer County and almost 20% of them are within half a mile of walkable destinations. Less than 10% of the population is also commuting more than 60 minutes to work.

• Population health: 84
• Equity: 58
• Education: 69
• Economy: 84
• Housing: 55
• Food and nutrition: 70
• Environment: 60
• Public safety: 79
• Community Vitality: 65
• Infrastructure: 78

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