This is cool.
With a click of your mouse, you can now find out how healthy your county is.
The County Health Rankings & Roadmaps Program has compiled truckloads of data and distilled it into easy-to-read stats that appear when you select your state from the U.S. map on their website.
Factors that affect a county’s ranking range from the usual suspects, like smoking and obesity, to slightly more obscure variables such as drinking water safety, education levels, and recreational access.
Photo by Petar Milošević via Wikimedia Commons
The goal behind the program is to “help communities create solutions that make it easier for people to be healthy in their own communities,” explains the program’s founders. “The County Health Roadmaps show what we can do to create healthier places to live, learn, work, and play.”
The site offers Webinars, a Tools & Resources page, and a hands-on Action Center that counties can use to nurture their residents and boost their rankings.
I’ve always believed that small changes close to home are crucial to bettering the nation as a whole, and I do what I can to contribute to my county’s health. I was happy to see that Latah County, my little patch of paradise, is the fourth healthiest county in Idaho.
How about yours?
