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Chester County’s premium diet of productivity, progress, prosperity and plentiful pastimes has made it not only the best place to live, work and play but now the healthiest too.
The nation’s annual County Health Rankings just crowned Chester County as the No. 1 place for healthful living in all of Pennsylvania, according to a recent Philadelphia Business Journal report by John George.
Among the health factors and outcomes that Chester County does best are quality of life, meaning its residents have fewer days of poor physical or mental health, and health behaviors, meaning fewer residents smoke or live inactive lives.
“The rankings are an easy-to-use snapshot comparing the health of nearly every county in the nation,” Public Health Management Corp. Community Health Database Executive Director Francine Axler said in the article; PHMC is the local arm of the County Health Rankings in the state.
The rankings are determined nationally by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute as a tool to inspire positive change. Chester County, for instance, has room for improvement in its physical environment, where it posted a middle-of-the-pack ranking based on air pollution, water quality and commute times.
“Whether it’s addressing health gaps between counties or the concentration of poverty in rural or residentially segregated communities, targeting resources to the people and places in greatest need is essential to building a culture of health,” County Health Rankings Co-Director Bridget Catlin said in the article. “The rankings are an important springboard for conversations on how to expand opportunity for all to be healthy.”
