In March, the Gallup-Sharecare 2017 State of American Well-Being report ranked Lancaster County 17th on the list of America’s healthiest and happiest places, climbing from 28th last year and 39th the year before. It is the highest-ranked region in Pennsylvania.
Lancaster County was highlighted in the report as a “community holding its own in a state with declining well-being”, referencing the fact that the County is consistently ranked highly for well-being, while Pennsylvania fell in the bottom half of the 2017 State Well-Being Rankings.
The report stated that Lancaster County’s results demonstrate that locally driven efforts and strategies are successful at improving the well-being of those who live in states with low well-being, reinforcing Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health’s unwavering commitment to community health improvement.
Other Pennsylvania locations that made the country’s top 189 healthiest and happiest places include: Pittsburgh (65), Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton (89), Philadelphia (132), Scranton-Wilkes-Barre-Hazleton (165) and Erie (180).
The top spot went to Naples, Florida, for the third year in a row.
Lancaster County ranks among top 10 healthiest in PA
In a separate study on overall health, Lancaster County ranks eighth out of all Pennsylvania counties.
The recently released 2018 County Health Rankings, compiled by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin, identifies what makes Lancaster County a healthy place to live, learn, work, and play.
The study identified many strengths, including that Lancaster County ranked third lowest in preventable hospital stays, fourth lowest in unemployment, and fifth lowest in deaths caused by accidental injury.
The study noted other areas of strength in Lancaster County, including:
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90% high school graduation rate
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High percentage of older adults receiving mammogram screenings and effectively managing diabetes
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Low percentage of children living in poverty
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Access to primary care physicians
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Low income inequality
The study identified five areas of opportunity for health improvement, reinforcing LG Health’s ongoing commitment to improve access to care and increase the number of County residents that are tobacco free and at a healthy weight:
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Percentage of adults who smoke
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Percentage of adults who are obese
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Percentage of adults under the age of 65 without health insurance
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Air quality
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Percentage of adults that report binge or heavy drinking