Fairfax County In Top 20 Of Healthiest Communities In 2022: U.S. News

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — Fairfax County is in the top 20 of healthiest communities in the United States, according to a new ranking by U.S. News & World Report.

The fifth annual report, released Wednesday in collaboration with CVS Health, highlights the healthiest 500 counties in the United States. Fairfax County ranked 17th in this year's rankings among the top 500.

To rank the counties, U.S. News looked at how nearly 3,000 U.S. counties performed in 89 metrics across 10 health-related categories, including an environmental category new to this year’s list. The new category was included to help account for the growing threat of climate change.

The categories are based on factors key to evaluating community health that were identified by the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics — a policy advisory board to the head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — as part of its Measurement Framework for Community Health and Well-Being.

Fairfax County received high scores in population health (97), economy (91), infrastructure (87), food and nutrition (83) and public safety (81). In the population health, the ranking notes Fairfax County's average life expectancy of 85.6 years, which is above the national median of 77.5 years. There are 9.1 percent of residents without health insurance, below the 11 percent national median.

In the economy category, Fairfax County's 5.8 percent unemployment rate and 5.9 percent poverty rate are below the national medians of 6.5 percent and 13.6 percent, respectively. The median household income is $114,645, which is above the national median of $58,759.

The county's lowest scores were 50 for housing and community vitality. In Fairfax County, 28.8 percent of the population spends at least 30 percent of income on housing, compared to the 22.8 percent national median. Residents need to work 40.8 hours to pay for affordable housing, just above the 40.6 national median.

U.S. News collected data for its rankings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Census Bureau, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, among others.

Read more about the rankings’ methodology.

These are the top 10 healthiest communities in the United States, according to the ranking:

1. Los Alamos County, New Mexico
2. Falls Church, Virginia
3. Douglas County, Colorado
4. Morgan County, Utah
5. Carver County, Minnesota
6. Sioux County, Iowa
7. Ozaukee County, Wisconsin
8. Hamilton County, Indiana
9. Broomfield County, Colorado
10. Delaware County, Ohio

U.S. News also ranked several subgroups of communities including high-performing and up-and-coming urban communities, as well as high-performing and up-and-coming rural communities.

Other key findings in the 2022 report:

• Four of the top 20 are in northern Virginia: No. 2 Falls Church, No. 12 Loudoun County, No. 13 Arlington County and No. 17 Fairfax County.
• For the second year in a row, Iowa counties are most heavily represented in the top 500, with 57 counties in the state making the list after 61 made it last year. Minnesota was next with 52 counties in the top 500.
• Rhode Island, Iowa and Minnesota were the states with the highest median overall scores across their counties, while Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas had the lowest median overall scores.
• Communities with lower scores in the mental health subcategory tend to have lower life expectancies, lower median household incomes and lower labor force participation, as well as higher rates of poverty.
• Rural communities are more likely to have higher shares of adults reporting frequent mental distress, and urban communities are more likely to have higher shares of Medicare beneficiaries diagnosed with depression.

See the full ranking for this year’s top 500 healthiest communities.