The
County Health Rankings Report is a collaboration between University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that ranks the overall health of counties in all 50 states – more than 3,000 counties in all – by measuring how healthy people are and how long they live. The rankings give a "snapshot" of residents' health so each county can see what they are doing well and where they need to improve. Researchers assessed measures of overall health (
health outcomes) and factors that affect people's health (
health factors). The measures for each county were ranked against other counties within their state.
The most recent update to the report was released in 2019. A summary of Mecklenburg County's 2019 rankings against other NC counties is provided below:
| Health Outcomes: 2019 | Mecklenburg Ranking out of 100 NC Counties |
Mortality
The rate of people dying before age 75
| 5 |
Morbidity
The percent of people who report being in fair or poor health, the numbers of days people report being in poor physical and poor mental health, and the rate of low-birthweight infants
| 7 |
|
Health Outcomes Overall | 4 |
| Health Factors: 2019 | Mecklenburg Ranking out of 100 NC Counties |
Health Behaviors
Adult smoking, adult obesity, binge drinking, and teenage pregnancy
| 15 |
Clinical Care
Number of uninsured adults, availability of primary care providers, and preventable hospital stays
| 14 |
Social & Economic Factors
Rates of high school graduation, number of children in poverty, and rates of violent crime
| 19 |
Physical Environment
Access to healthy foods, air pollution levels, and liquor store density
| 53 |
|
Health Factors Overall Ranking | 14 |
The full report, County Health Rankings: Mobilizing Action Toward Community Health (MATCH) may be viewed at
www.countyhealthrankings.org and lists health outcomes and factors affecting people's health for each county in North Carolina as it does for other states, accompanied by color-coded maps of each state comparing their counties' overall health rankings. It does not compare states to one another.