Healthiest counties in US: Oconee County in Georgia

When it comes to access to health care, equity, education and employment opportunity, some counties just fare better than others.

According to the U.S. News and World Report's latest analysis of the country's healthiest communities (or counties), Georgia's Oconee County deserves some major bragging rights.

The northeastern region—part of the Athens-Clarke metro—ranked 76th overall and earned the top spot for the Peach State.

For the ranking, researchers collected county-level data on nearly 3,000 counties or county equivalents using a variety of reputable sources such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Census Bureau. They then rated each region’s health and well-being based on 10 key metrics: population health; equity; education; economy; food and nutrition; environment; public safety; community vitality and infrastructure.

The 10 main categories were measured by 81 additional metrics, ranging from food availability to health outcomes and natural environment.

Only 500 cities ultimately made the cut. Colorado’s Douglas County came out on top, followed by Los Alamos County in New Mexico and Falls Church city in Virginia.

At the bottom of the pack: Sauk County, Wisconsin; Franklin County, Vermont, and Howard County in Nebraska.

As previously mentioned, Oconee scored 76.1, and ranked 76th overall. That’s a big jump from its spot at No. 99 last year.

For the 2019 report, Oconee also earned a high-performing No. 57 spot on the peer group ranking. According to U.S. News, for this additional ranking, “counties were placed into peer groups to allow communities to be evaluated against more fairly competitive benchmarks. These peer groups were based on their urban-rural status as tied to population density and the robustness of their economies.”

Oconee County, home to St. Mary’s, Piedmont Athens Regional and the Landmark Hospital of Athens, scored well above the state average (34.1) and national average (47.4).