Do You Live in One of These Michigan Counties Ranked Healthiest in State?

The Great Lakes State is home to several counties that prioritize health and well-being, giving residents a number of opportunities to live healthy and fulfilling lives. However, some counties ranked better than others in a new study. And there are two main categories used to determine the healthiest counties in the state.

How Counties Are Ranked

MLive recently broke down a new report from data collected by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Counties were ranked based on a combination of two categories-health outcomes and health factors. According to MLive, health outcomes are determined by life expectancy and 'quality of life' within a county. Health factors include prevalence of smoking, drinking, level of health care, education, income, employment, and other categories. The scores of the health factors and heath outcomes were then combined to determine the individual ranking for all 83 counties in the state.

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Top Counties in Health Outcomes

1. Leelanau
2. Clinton
3. Ottawa
4. Livingston
5. Oakland
6. Washtenaw
7. Midland
8. Grand Traverse
9. Antrim
10. Emmet

The counties that were at the bottom include Iosco, Iron, Lake, Genesee, and Wayne coming in last for the health outcomes category.

Top Counties in Health Factors

1. Washtenaw
2. Ottawa
3. Oakland
4. Livingston
5. Clinton
6. Grand Traverse
7. Leelanau
8. Midland
9. Dickinson
10. Marquette

The counties that round out the bottom of the Health Factors category include Montmorency, Clare, Wayne, Lake and Oscoda coming in last in the category.

A lot Can Change in Five Years

This is a far cry from before the pandemic when a study was done in 2018 where Saginaw was the unhealthiest county in the state.