The healthiest community in the United States is Douglas County in Colorado, according to the 2019 rankings just released by U.S. News & World Report.

For the rankings in the second annual report, nearly 3,000 communities across the United States were evaluated on 81 health-related measures in 10 categories, including education, environment, population health and infrastructure.

Iowa has the strongest presence in the rankings overall, with 62 counties among the top 500. Average community scores put Iowa among the top 10 states in four of the 10 broad categories, including population health and housing. The leading community in Iowa was Bremer County, which was 26th nationwide and had top scores in walkability and low toxic releases.

Along with identifying which communities offer their citizens the greatest opportunity to live a productive, healthy life, the report can help residents, health care leaders and elected officials develop policies and best practices that help improve health.

"Through the Healthiest Communities initiative, U.S. News expands on three decades of expertise in measuring health care quality to assess how social determinants affect community health," Eric Gertler, executive chairman of U.S. News & World Report, said in a magazine news release.

To read more of Robert Preidt's article, please click here.