Source: NJ Biz.com
When it comes to health in the Garden State’s 21 counties, there’s northern New Jersey … and then there’s everywhere else.
A collaboration between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute released its health rankings for counties around the country, including New Jersey.
The rankings, which rank the nation’s counties within their states, provide a snapshot of how health is influenced by where people live, learn, work and play. The two factors of length and quality of life are weighed equally.
Here’s how New Jersey’s counties stack up:
Hunterdon
Morris
Somerset
Bergen
Sussex
Middlesex
Monmouth
Union
Warren
Ocean
Burlington
Mercer
Hudson
Gloucester
Passaic
Cape May
Atlantic
Camden
Salem
Essex
Cumberland
And here is how New Jersey’s counties fare in terms of health factors, based on weighted scores for health behaviors, clinical care, social and economic factors, and the physical environment:
Hunterdon
Somerset
Morris
Bergen
Monmouth
Middlesex
Sussex
Mercer
Burlington
Warren
Ocean
Union
Gloucester
Cape May
Camden
Hudson
Passaic
Atlantic
Essex
Salem
Cumberland
The rankings are compiled using county-level measures from a variety of national and state data sources. These measures are standardized and combined using scientifically informed weights.
The goal of the rankings is to provide a starting point for change in the community by raising awareness about the many factors that influence health and that health varies from place to place — not to produce lists of the healthiest 10 to 20 counties in the nation.