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SALT LAKE CITY — A new report ranks Utah’s counties from healthiest to least based on factors from teen birth to smoking to premature death rates, in an effort to improve the health of communities around the nation.
Out of the 27 Utah counties studied, Morgan ranked No. 1 and Carbon County came in last. Utah and Salt Lake County both cracked the top ten at No. 5 and No. 9 respectively. Daggett and Rich counties could not be ranked due to insufficient data.
Overall, counties along the Wasatch front ranked higher than rural Utah counties. However, Utah's averages on a whole are much healthier than the national averages.
This is the sixth year the County Health Rankings and Roadmaps, a program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, released its findings. Counties across the U.S. were measured by housing, crime, graduation rates, smoking, obesity, access to healthy foods, clean water and clean air, and teen births to determine overall health outcomes.
“The County Health Rankings often provide the spark for businesses, community planners, policy makers, public health, parents, and others to work together for better health,” County Health Rankings director Bridget Caitlin said in a statement, according to Time.com.
- Morgan
- Cache
- Wasatch
- Summit
- Utah
- Davis
- Washington
- Wayne
- Salt Lake
- Iron
Here’s a look at trends in some of Utah's counties.
Morgan County: No. 1 ====================
- Low premature death rate
- Low STD rates
- 22 percent of adults are obese; but obesity and low physical activity rates are on the rise
- Low uninsured rates
- High rate of high school graduation
- Low rate of violent crime
- Low rate of income inequality
Utah County No. 5 =================
- Carbon
- Duchesne
- Grand
- Sevier
- Uintah
- Lower rate of premature deaths than the Utah and national average
- Low rates of smoking and teen births
- Higher rates of physical activity than the Utah average
- Low rate of violent crime
- 24 percent of adults are obese
Salt Lake County No. 9 ======================
- Lower premature death rate than the nation, still higher than Utah average
- 25 percent of Salt Lake County adults are obese and the rate is rising
- Higher rates of STDs, teen births and violent crime than Utah average
Carbon County No. 27 ====================
- Almost twice the rate of premature deaths than Utah’s average
- High rates of smoking and violent crime
- Higher rate of unemployment (5.9%) compared to Utah’s average of 4.4 percent
- 28 percent of adults are obese