Howard County has the healthiest residents in the state, according to a new ranking.

And Baltimore City has the least healthy residents, who were three times more likely to die prematurely than in Howard, said the ranking by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

It’s the second year the two have prepared a ranking of counties in Maryland and other states.

The researchers looked at the rate of people dying before age 75, the percent of people who report being in fair or poor health, the numbers of days people report being in poor physical and poor mental health, and the rate of low-birthweight infants.

They also looked at health behavior, clinical care, social and economic factors and physical environment. These include such things are rates of smoking, obesity, drinking, teen births, poverty, the uninsured and primary care providers, as well as levels of education and access to healthy food and clean air.

Similar findings last year weren’t surprising to public health officials, and probably aren’t so shocking to locals either given the wealth or lack of it in the most and least healthy places.

The healthiest counties after Howard were Montgomery, Frederick, Queen Anne’s and Carroll. The least healthy after the city were Allegany, Dorchester, Somerset and Wicomico.

“The County Health Rankings help everyone see that much of what influences our health happens outside of the doctor’s office and where we live matters to our health,” says Dr. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “The good news is that there are things counties can do right away to help their residents lead healthier lives. We hope this second annual release of County Health Rankings data will spur all sectors – government, business, community and faith-based groups, education and public health – to work together to find solutions and take action and implement programs and policy changes to improve health.”
See the full report at www.countyhealthrankings.org.

Keep reading to see some highlights between Baltimore City and Howard County.