Ranking Shows Wealthier Counties Are Healthier In Kentucky

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Mar 31st, 2011

Ranking Shows Wealthier Counties Are Healthier In Kentucky

New county health rankings show that health status is tied to income levels according to a recent story in The Courier Journal.

The rankings, released by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, list Boone County as Kentucky’s healthiest and Owsley as its unhealthiest.

According to the study, the rate of premature death, or years of potential life lost before age 75, was 19,644 per 100,000 in Owsley County, compared with 5,949 per 100,000 in Boone.

Owsley, had a median household income of $21,177 in 2009, compared with $67,994 in Boone County. And 53 percent of children live in poverty in Owsley, compared with 8 percent in Boone.

Access to healthy foods is also limited in Owsley County. The study ranked healthy food access at 20 percent, compared with a state-wide average of 44 percent and a national benchmark of 92 percent.

In Boone, meanwhile, residents have much better access to healthy foods — 86 percent, the study shows, almost twice the state average.

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