March 20, 2016

Report: People live longest in Chester County in Pa., Burlington County, N.J.

2016 County Health Rankings break down health outcomes across a range of factors

By Michael Tanenbaum

Source/Chester County Ramblings

Aerial view of development in Chester County.

If you want to live a long life in the Delaware Valley, your best bet is to lay down roots in Chester, Montgomery or Bucks counties in Pennsylvania and Burlington County in South Jersey.

These are among the findings of the 2016 County Health Rankings, a national report produced annually by The Robert Woods Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute.

Since 2010, the study rankings have been compiled using a variety of health data sources to determine which counties in each state have the best overall health outcomes and where they rank across a range of health factors, from quality and length of life to behavioral, clinical and socioeconomic factors.

The table below displays length of life rankings for the region. In the study, that ranking accounts for 50 percent of each county's overall health score. The rankings are based in part on data from the National Center for Health Statistics and represent a compilation of several factors, including the number of deaths before age 75 and the years of potential life lost for people who die before turning 75.

Regional Ranking	County	State Ranking
1	Chester	3
2	Montgomery	4
3	Bucks	9
4	Burlington	11
5	Ocean	14
6	Delaware	30
7	Cape May	18
8	Gloucester	15
9	Salem	21
10	Atlantic	19
11	Camden	17
12	Cumberland	20
13	Philadelphia	66

To provide a regional snapshot of the 2016 results, the table below shows how the 13 counties in Southeastern Pennsylvania and South Jersey stacked up overall in comparison to one another and relative to the rest of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. (Note: Red counties are in Pennsylvania, blue counties are in New Jersey).

Regional Ranking	County	State Ranking
1	Chester	1
2	Montgomery	3
3	Bucks	6
4	Burlington	9
5	Ocean	11
6	Delaware	35
7	Cape May	15
8	Gloucester	16
9	Salem	17
10	Atlantic	18
11	Camden	19
12	Cumberland	21
13	Philadelphia	67

For the fifth year in a row, Philadelphia ranked at the very bottom both regionally and in Pennsylvania. As a metropolitan county vying against its more diversely developed neighbors, that shouldn't come as too great of a surprise. With a 12 percent "deep poverty" rate in 2015 – worst in the U.S. among the ten biggest cities – Philadelphia's overall scores are influenced both by the size of its population and the distribution of inequality that impacts various quality of life factors.

While 15 percent of Pennsylvanians statewide described their health as "fair or poor," that number peaked at 23 percent in Philadelphia and was lowest in Chester County at 11 percent. The study also looked at variations among different races, smokers vs. nonsmokers, incomes, access to physicians and healthy food, and people's commutes to work, among dozens of other factors.

Here are some key findings from Philadelphia:

• 37 percent of children in Philadelphia live in poverty, compared to a state average of 19 percent

• 59 percent of children are in single-parent households, compared to a state average of 33 percent

• Philadelphia received a ranking of 6.2 in income inequality based on the ratio of household income at the 80th percentile to income at the 20th percentile. That compares to 4.2 across the state.

• 17 percent of Philadelphians lacked medical insurance, compared to an average of 12 percent of residents statewide

The encouraging news for Philly is that, despite its bottom ranking, there are several key initiatives in place to address these issues through a combination of education and services. The Healthy Corner Store Initiative, launched in 2004 by The Food Trust, works with local grocers to market fresh produce while providing educational community programs to encourage healthy eating choices.

The University of Pennsylvania recently received a $1.4 million CDC grant to empower local leaders in the West Philadelphia Promise Zone to establish programs that address chronic health problems, from diabetes and hypertension to obesity.

And in May, the Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC) and Philadelphians Organized to Witness Empower and Rebuild (POWER) will host an event, “Poverty Summit: Philly Solutions for Philly Poverty,” that seeks to develop local solutions in the labor market that could reduce financial strains that contribute to poor health and quality of life.

With five years of archived rankings now available, we created the following tables to show how counties across Pennsylvania and New Jersey have varied since the national study first began. For individual statistics, the County Health Rankings website allows you to compare each county to statewide averages and develop a clearer picture of where counties are strongest and weakest.

Pennsylvania Overall County Health Rankings

2016 Rank	County	2015 Rank	2010 Rank
1	CHESTER	4	1
2	Union	1	3
3	MONTGOMERY	6	5
4	Centre	2	2
5	Cumberland	5	9
6	BUCKS	12	7
7	Butler	9	11
8	Adams	17	21
9	Lancaster	8	8
10	Snyder	7	4
11	Cameron	15	40
12	Juniata	3	28
13	Franklin	18	10
14	Pike	10	6
15	York	19	25
16	Lebanon	11	15
17	Montour	22	39
18	Northampton	27	26
19	Lycoming	23	23
20	Westmoreland	25	18
21	Washington	33	29
22	Bedford	13	31
23	Bradford	14	12
24	Wayne	31	62
25	Berks	20	16
26	Allegheny	34	49
27	Huntingdon	28	37
28	Lehigh	21	19
29	Potter	35	24
30	Tioga	16	22
31	Fulton	37	27
32	Perry	50	35
33	Elk	62	59
34	Warren	30	13
35	DELAWARE	39	36
36	Clinton	32	34
37	Columbia	38	14
38	Somerset	46	32
39	Beaver	43	44
40	Forest	65	53
41	Venango	52	54
42	Indiana	40	17
43	Wyoming	53	43
44	Clearfield	29	45
45	Erie	51	30
46	Blair	48	63
47	Mercer	41	52
48	Monroe	26	46
49	Armstrong	36	58
50	Clarion	24	42
51	Dauphin	45	47
52	McKean	47	50
53	Susquehanna	59	41
54	Crawford	44	33
55	Mifflin	42	48
56	Jefferson	54	20
57	Northumberland	49	55
58	Carbon	57	56
59	Greene	63	66
60	Lackawanna	56	51
61	Schuylkill	55	60
62	Lawrence	61	61
63	Cambria	60	64
64	Luzerne	58	57
65	Sullivan	66	38
66	Fayette	64	65
67	PHILADELPHIA	67	67

New Jersey Overall County Health Rankings

2016 Rank	County	2015 Rank	2010 Rank
1	Hunterdon	1	1
2	Morris	3	3
3	Somerset	2	2
4	Bergen	4	4
5	Sussex	7	8
6	Middlesex	5	7
7	Monmouth	6	5
8	Union	9	12
9	BURLINGTON	11	6
10	Warren	10	10
11	OCEAN	8	13
12	Hudson	14	20
13	Mercer	12	9
14	Passaic	13	17
15	CAPE MAY	15	14
16	GLOUCESTER	16	11
17	SALEM	18	15
18	ATLANTIC	20	19
19	CAMDEN	19	16
20	Essex	17	18
21	CUMBERLAND	21	21

Pennsylvania Length of Life County Rankings

2016 Rank	County
1	Union
2	Centre
3	CHESTER
4	MONTGOMERY
5	Cumberland
6	Adams
7	Lancaster
8	Northampton
9	BUCKS
10	Pike
11	Franklin
12	York
13	Butler
14	Lehigh
15	Berks
16	Lebanon
17	Cameron
18	Columbia
19	Snyder
20	Juniata
21	Bradford
22	Lycoming
23	Potter
24	Monroe
25	Westmoreland
26	Dauphin
27	Allegheny
28	Huntingdon
29	Wayne
30	DELAWARE
31	Clinton
32	Tioga
33	McKean
34	Warren
35	Washington
36	Forest
37	Clearfield
38	Fulton
39	Erie
40	Indiana
41	Somerset
42	Jefferson
43	Mercer
44	Montour
45	Northumberland
46	Clarion
47	Blair
48	Venango
49	Elk
50	Bedford
51	Crawford
52	Beaver
53	Armstrong
54	Perry
55	Lackawanna
56	Greene
57	Mifflin
58	Wyoming
59	Lawrence
60	Carbon
61	Cambria
62	Luzerne
63	Susquehanna
64	Schuylkill
65	Fayette
66	PHILADELPHIA
67	Sullivan

New Jersey Length of Life County Rankings

2016 Rank	County
1	Hunterdon
2	Somerset
3	Bergen
4	Morris
5	Middlesex
6	Monmouth
7	Union
8	Hudson
9	Sussex
10	Passaic
11	BURLINGTON
12	Warren
13	Mercer
14	OCEAN
15	GLOUCESTER
16	Essex
17	CAMDEN
18	CAPE MAY
19	ATLANTIC
20	CUMBERLAND
21	SALEM

For more information on the 2016 rankings, head over to the County Health Rankings website, which also offers guides and tools to help governments and community organizations address their most pressing areas of need.

PhillyVoice Managing Editor of Curation Jon Tuleya contributed to this article.

Michael Tanenbaum

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