America’s Health Rankings 2019: Where Illinois Ranks

ILLINOIS — The United Health Foundation recently released the 30th edition of its America’s Health Rankings Annual Report, which represents the longest-running state-by-state analysis of the nation’s health.

It's so-so news for Illinois in 2019, as we finished 26th healthiest overall out of the 50 states, slightly below average.

Illinois Ranks In Bottom Half Of U.S. News 'Best States' Rankings

Here’s more information on how our state ranked across the five model categories that determined the overall ranking.

• Behaviors: 20
• Community & Environment: 35
• Policy: 14
• Clinical Care: 20
• Health Outcomes: 26

The overall ranking for Illinois hasn't changed since the 2018 report. But the state has seen steady improvement in ranking overall throughout the past 30 years.

• 2010 Ranking: 29
• 2000 Ranking: 30
• 1990 Ranking: 34

According to the report, Illinois has some strengths when it comes to overall health, such as a high immunization rate and a high rate of health professionals such as dentists.

On the flip side, the state's weaknesses include a high prevalence of excessive drinking, high levels of air pollution and a high incidence of the sexually transmitted disease chlamydia. A 2018 CDC report noted that chlamydia, syphilis and gonorrhea were on the rise in Illinois, making the "fourth consecutive year of sharp increases," including 72,201 reported chlamydia cases in Illinois in 2016 alone.

Here are some other healthy highlights from the report:

Vermont ranked as the healthiest state in America for 2019, the researchers found, followed by Massachusetts, Hawaii, Connecticut and Utah.

At the other end of the rankings, Mississippi finished as the lowest-ranked state in the nation. The bottom five was rounded out by Louisiana, Arkansas, Alabama and Oklahoma.

The report ranked all 50 states across 35 measures of health, such as e-cigarette use, housing problems and concentrated disadvantage. These measures were then filtered through the following five categories to help determine an overall ranking for each state:

• Behaviors
• Community & Environment
• Policy
• Clinical Care
• Health Outcomes

The America’s Health Rankings Annual Report used 19 data sources to determine the most accurate information for each state, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Behavior Risk Surveillance System and the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey and Current Population Survey.

“The report provides a unique opportunity to track short- and long-term public health successes as well as identify current and emerging challenges at state and national levels,” authors of the United Health Foundation wrote. “When reading the report, think beyond the rankings; every state, whether first or last, has strengths and challenges.”

The full report is available on Americashealthrankings.org.