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Urban, High-Performing Rankings

Measuring health and wellness in similar communities

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Explore the 2021 rankings of the top 100 Healthiest Communities in the urban, high-performing peer group. See how each county scored across 10 categories that drive community health on a scale of zero to 100.

Understanding the cultures of communities around the U.S. and how they can overcome obstacles to health is a key driver behind the U.S. News Healthiest Communities rankings, which allow residents to compare their communities with others across the nation of similar geographic status and economic strength.

In measures of health and wellness, it can be difficult to top urban communities with high-performing economies – they tend to boast more accessible health care, more academic achievement and more walkable neighborhoods. Still, none scores perfectly in all measures of community well-being, indicating all communities have things to learn from one another.

Rank

County

Rank	County	Population Health	Equity	Education	Economy	Housing	Food & Nutrition	Environment	Public Safety	Community Vitality	Infrastructure

1	Los Alamos County, New Mexico	93	76	75	74	95	67	83	84	76	90
2	Douglas County, Colorado	90	78	69	100	62	69	81	73	78	90
3	Falls Church city, Virginia	100	65	100	95	33	82	52	77	69	91
4	Loudoun County, Virginia	91	65	87	100	52	75	52	80	79	77
5	Broomfield County, Colorado	86	69	73	95	69	66	69	68	69	98
6	Howard County, Maryland	91	55	89	92	52	70	58	73	66	86
7	Carver County, Minnesota	82	59	85	90	70	51	68	73	75	82
8	Fairfax County, Virginia	97	56	79	92	47	75	61	80	47	86
9	Hunterdon County, New Jersey	87	70	95	88	49	72	58	78	67	55
10	Hamilton County, Indiana	82	66	78	91	64	49	54	76	75	85

11	Delaware County, Ohio	80	70	81	87	74	44	55	71	78	80
12	Ozaukee County, Wisconsin	85	70	77	78	62	59	65	75	68	81
13	Morris County, New Jersey	88	55	94	91	58	66	53	83	55	72
14	Dallas County, Iowa	84	44	86	88	72	56	54	69	76	88
15	Dukes County, Massachusetts	77	66	91	68	39	71	64	73	80	86
16	Summit County, Colorado	85	56	75	73	34	71	95	78	58	91
17	Teller County, Colorado	67	86	43	68	55	80	96	75	83	62
18	Fairfax city, Virginia	88	65	61	89	44	73	58	82	59	80
19	Teton County, Idaho	74	88	42	75	74	67	78	72	68	69
20	Williamson County, Tennessee	81	63	80	92	65	53	40	63	86	74

21	Bremer County, Iowa	81	69	79	65	76	63	45	71	68	95
22	Collin County, Texas	80	54	82	94	59	61	57	73	65	77
23	Gallatin County, Montana	79	72	60	77	58	69	79	65	68	80
24	Placer County, California	84	58	69	84	55	70	60	79	65	78
25	Boulder County, Colorado	85	40	75	90	51	74	78	65	56	93
26	Gilpin County, Colorado	80	99	40	73	34	69	100	70	85	43
27	Washington County, Minnesota	82	63	76	88	61	49	62	68	69	84
28	Arlington County, Virginia	95	44	80	93	51	82	60	90	32	74
29	Santa Clara County, California	94	49	76	91	45	82	65	79	33	87
30	Grundy County, Iowa	77	75	76	61	74	67	50	75	66	87
31	Davis County, Utah	78	62	68	86	64	52	75	68	53	100
32	San Mateo County, California	91	39	72	92	38	85	69	90	40	87
33	Johnson County, Kansas	85	55	76	90	62	56	54	72	56	90
34	Marin County, California	91	34	71	91	28	90	67	85	61	73
35	Clear Creek County, Colorado	76	60	55	70	63	85	86	58	77	69
36	Somerset County, New Jersey	92	44	89	89	53	67	51	77	56	71
37	Lincoln County, South Dakota	82	64	63	87	70	43	59	61	74	87
38	Wasatch County, Utah	77	68	67	81	52	59	86	62	68	75
39	Dodge County, Minnesota	68	80	67	72	75	47	60	78	68	84
40	Forsyth County, Georgia	79	57	80	90	61	56	52	69	80	62
41	Hanover County, Virginia	75	72	76	78	58	56	56	68	71	73
42	St. Croix County, Wisconsin	80	76	65	77	59	60	61	74	63	68
43	Larimer County, Colorado	78	61	66	77	56	71	78	62	59	81
44	Saratoga County, New York	76	73	74	77	60	57	62	77	54	78
45	Montgomery County, Maryland	92	45	80	90	38	71	62	77	50	73
46	Norfolk County, Massachusetts	81	53	86	91	57	68	59	72	52	61
47	Eagle County, Colorado	83	47	53	78	33	79	94	85	52	86
48	Oconee County, Georgia	77	65	75	79	56	64	43	61	87	69
49	Waukesha County, Wisconsin	83	57	73	86	63	56	51	68	64	77
50	Washington County, Wisconsin	77	75	64	74	64	53	68	66	62	81
51	Leelanau County, Michigan	73	65	44	59	62	89	67	72	85	70
52	Scott County, Minnesota	78	53	70	90	52	51	69	68	67	83
53	Middlesex County, Massachusetts	84	42	83	91	58	71	59	78	44	72
54	Bristol County, Rhode Island	81	68	83	72	47	58	62	80	51	82
55	Olmsted County, Minnesota	95	50	72	76	58	54	67	65	57	85
56	Nassau County, New York	86	40	88	90	33	74	49	100	55	62
57	Jefferson County, Colorado	78	51	58	91	56	71	65	59	58	91
58	DuPage County, Illinois	80	46	84	89	47	64	51	80	50	87
59	Dickinson County, Iowa	76	76	61	60	67	55	64	72	71	81
60	Union County, South Dakota	72	75	63	68	84	52	52	73	63	84
61	Rockwall County, Texas	69	64	73	85	61	55	55	81	76	58
62	Rockingham County, New Hampshire	74	75	76	83	55	58	54	65	61	69
63	Wright County, Minnesota	72	83	70	78	59	52	61	68	66	62
64	Washington County, Rhode Island	77	70	75	71	54	68	62	67	56	74
65	Bergen County, New Jersey	83	37	94	91	44	78	52	89	44	62
66	Montgomery County, Pennsylvania	80	48	88	87	56	64	44	71	57	76
67	Williamson County, Texas	74	63	69	93	57	47	51	74	65	76
68	York County, Virginia	81	77	91	68	38	53	55	70	54	84
69	Medina County, Ohio	69	83	69	74	61	51	62	74	63	69
70	Utah County, Utah	75	57	69	84	53	51	79	69	43	100
71	La Plata County, Colorado	80	59	46	69	56	76	82	69	63	77
72	Union County, Ohio	68	67	70	74	70	50	56	81	67	75
73	Madison County, Iowa	74	72	61	65	80	60	44	70	72	74
74	Monroe County, Illinois	72	76	69	75	62	49	46	77	66	78
75	Warren County, Ohio	73	60	79	84	72	43	41	67	64	89
76	Chester County, Pennsylvania	79	45	88	89	56	60	50	69	59	73
77	Sussex County, New Jersey	73	77	87	77	39	64	69	75	57	50
78	Fayette County, Georgia	81	68	76	80	51	52	44	69	78	59
79	Middlesex County, Connecticut	80	55	88	79	48	63	66	67	54	68
80	Dakota County, Minnesota	77	51	69	88	61	47	70	64	57	88
81	Hood River County, Oregon	76	61	66	61	54	80	67	72	62	75
82	Orange County, Vermont	71	82	73	59	50	75	65	67	67	60
83	Ada County, Idaho	73	65	53	79	66	59	59	67	62	84
84	St. Charles County, Missouri	68	76	71	85	64	41	49	64	63	83
85	Livingston County, Michigan	76	80	64	75	63	57	56	64	67	58
86	Seward County, Nebraska	76	76	65	63	76	49	55	70	58	83
87	Washington County, Oregon	80	50	66	87	46	70	53	73	47	92
88	Houston County, Minnesota	76	75	51	59	60	63	65	73	65	83
89	Alexandria city, Virginia	87	38	64	90	42	77	59	93	37	78
90	Grand Traverse County, Michigan	73	69	57	62	60	63	72	72	69	72
91	Powhatan County, Virginia	71	72	62	69	68	57	54	70	76	63
92	Putnam County, New York	78	65	81	79	36	61	71	87	54	49
93	Poquoson city, Virginia	74	90	73	68	39	49	44	80	66	71
94	Kauai County, Hawaii	85	73	42	69	30	87	69	77	48	77
95	Oldham County, Kentucky	68	64	75	78	73	43	52	67	73	73
96	Sarpy County, Nebraska	77	58	73	81	60	36	55	76	53	95
97	Piatt County, Illinois	67	68	60	62	65	61	53	81	63	91
98	Plymouth County, Iowa	71	60	64	65	89	58	57	73	57	78
99	Washington County, Vermont	73	69	67	66	56	80	62	62	63	63
100	Chittenden County, Vermont	87	57	74	75	46	64	66	65	49	74

Peer Groups

These rankings identify the top 100 urban, high-performing communities in America, ranging from No. 1 Los Alamos County, New Mexico, to No. 100 Chittenden County, Vermont. Communities classified as “urban” were metropolitan or micropolitan – areas with substantial central populations and integrated adjacent communities – and were home to at least 20 people per square mile. “High-performing” communities scored in the top half of the economy category out of all urban places assessed for the overall Healthiest Communities rankings.

Although many of the Healthiest Communities overall are urban, high-performing communities, they make up only a portion of the U.S. See the top 500 overall rankings and the top 100 communities in the other three peer groups created by U.S. News to allow for fair comparisons:

Overall

Urban, Up-and-Coming

Rural, High-Performing

Rural, Up-and-Coming

Learn More About Healthiest Communities

The 2021 Healthiest Communities rankings were created in collaboration with the Aetna Foundation and are based on an examination of nearly 3,000 communities across 84 metrics in the 10 health and health-related categories. Population health and equity are the most heavily weighted categories, based on the assessments of more than a dozen leading experts on what matters most to a community’s health.

Beyond the rankings, the Healthiest Communities platform offers data and insight on each of the nearly 3,000 communities evaluated. Users can dive into the data with our interactive Data Explorer.

Healthiest Communities Data Explorer

Dive into the Healthiest Communities data with our interactive explorer tools. You can view existing charts, create your own with the 84 metrics used to discover the nation's Healthiest Communities and draw county-to-county comparisons across categories.

Explore the Data

Healthiest Communities Methodology

U.S. News uses data from well-recognized sources such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to assess U.S. counties for the Healthiest Communities rankings. See the full list of data sources and learn how counties are scored.

Learn More

Urban, High-Performing Rankings

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