The Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Wisconsin Popular Health Institute this week released its annual report ranking the healthiest counties in the United States. Depending on which end you look at, Northeast Texas is either among the healthiest or least healthy parts of the state.
The 2018 County Health Rankings Report looks at overall health and at “health factors” – aspects of lifestyle such as access to healthcare, water and housing quality, and use of tobacco, drugs, and alcohol. The report ranked Collin County the fourth-healthiest overall in Texas and first in health factors. Rockwall County placed second in health factors in the state and seventh in overall health.
For the most part, counties in Northeast Texas placed in the lower-middle of the rankings, but Lamar and Delta counties ranked near the bottom of the list statewide. Delta County placed 221st overall and 116th in health factors. Lamar County placed 230th overall and 194th in health factors. There were 242 counties ranked in Texas.
The two counties were part of a cluster of counties that ranked in the lowest quarter for health in Texas. From Lamar east to Louisiana and Arkansas, counties ranked in the 200-plus range. Overall, Denton County was ranked as the healthiest in the state.
One takeaway is that Texas counties populated by large African-American and Latino people are generally among the counties with the poorest health. Premature deaths in least healthy counties were three times higher than in healthy counties, and African-American Texas recorded the most premature deaths in 2017 – 9,800 in total.
By contrast, 7,100 white Texans also suffered premature deaths, but the impact was greater per capita among black residents. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, out of 28 million Texas, blacks make up just 12 percent, while whites make up 80 percent.
Rankings for Northeast Texas Counties, according to RWJ, are as follows:
- Collin – 4 (overall); 1 (health factors)
- Delta – 221; 116
- Fannin – 98; 102
- Grayson – 114; 81
- Hopkins – 101; 149
- Hunt – 159; 147
- Kaufman – 67; 77
- Lamar – 230; 194
- Rains – 57; 113
- Rockwall – 7; 2
- Van Zandt – 92; 89
- Wood – 121; 59
