There’s an old saying that goes “without your health, you have nothing,” and it’s true. You can have everything you ever wanted, but without health, you can’t really enjoy anything.
When it comes to being healthy, people in some places in West Virginia are doing better than others. That’s according to a program that annually ranks every county in the country according to various health factors.
County Health Rankings and Roadmaps take into account length of life, birth weights, obesity and smoking rates, physical activity, DUI deaths, unemployment and the number of children living in poverty, among many other factors. You can find the full results here.
Here are the 10 healthiest counties according to the rankings.
Parsons is the county seat of Tucker County, the 10th healthiest county in the state. It still has ways it can improve health, though. For instance its adult obesity rate is trending up over the past few years. It has been decreasing the number of preventable hospital stays, however.
Doddridge, where West Union is the county seat, is the ninth healthiest county in the state. Although healthy compared to the rest of the state, its rate of physical inactivity is going up, which is not a good thing.
Ohio County, located in the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia, is the eighth healthiest county, according to the rankings. The county seat of Ohio County is Wheeling. Its adult obesity rate has stayed the same over the last few years, while the state's rate as a whole is going up.
Berkeley County, where Martinsburg is the county seat, is the seventh healthiest county. While its rate of physical inactivity is staying the same over the past few years, its obesity rate is increasing.
Putnam, where the towns of Winfield, Hurricane and Teays Valley are, is 6th on the list of healthiest counties in West Virginia for 2015. The number of people in Putnam without health insurance has decreased over the last few years, and that's a good thing.
Upshur County, where Buckhannon is, is the fifth healthiest county in the state. Its adult obesity rate has stayed the same while the state's rate has increased.
The fourth healthiest county in West Virginia is Pleasants County. It's also the state's third least populated county. The county seat is St. Marys. Its number of uninsured people is also going down.
Monongalia County, where Morgantown and West Virginia University are, is the third healthiest county in the state. Its adult obesity rate is staying the same over the past couple years while the state's obesity rate increases.
Jefferson County, where Charles Town and Harpers Ferry are, is the second healthiest county in the state. Its rate of sexually transmitted infections is decreasing and is is its number of uninsured people.
Pendleton County, where Franklin is the county seat, is the healthiest in the state. It's also the fifth least populated county in the state. Over the past few years the county has improved its rate of diabetic monitoring and preventable hospital stays, according to the rankings.
Did your county make the list? Were there any counties on the list that surprised you? Let me know in the comments.
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