Fla. Counties Named Among Healthiest to Live

MIAMI  – Three South Florida counties are on the Top 10 list for healthiest places to live in the Sunshine State, with three other Florida counties earning a spot in the national Top 500 healthiest communities in America rankings from U.S. News & World Report.

Broward took the No. 4 spot on Florida's Top 10 list, with Palm Beach County No. 6 and Monroe No. 8, according to the publication, which assessed nearly 3,000 U.S. counties in 92 metrics across 10 categories that drive community health, including food, education, equity and housing.

Where are the healthiest places to live in Florida?

St. Johns County, home to historic St. Augustine, takes the top spot, followed by Seminole and Sarasota counties in Central Florida. The three counties aren't just the healthiest in Florida – they also made the national 500 healthiest communities list.

St. Johns was awarded the No. 104 spot in the U.S. News national rankings, with Seminole and Sarasota No. 280 and No. 465 The rankings indicate that the three Florida counties are healthier than much of the country. The healthiest community in the country is Falls Church, Virginia.

"Taken together, Florida's 10 highest-scoring communities performed best in the categories of infrastructure, food and nutrition, and economy. On average, they performed worst in the housing and environment categories," according to U.S. News & World Report.

Many of the metrics U.S. News analyzed zeroed in on "social determinants of health," that worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic. They include housing, food insecurity, healthcare access, economic stability and education.

"We are starting to learn as doctors the importance of social determinants of health," which affects about 80% of health outcomes, said Dr. Olveen Carrasquillo, associate dean for clinical and translational research at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and co-director of the school's clinical and translational science institute.

In South Florida, for example, people are being priced out of their homes as the cost of living keeps rising. Florida leads the nation for heat-related illnesses, with Miami-Dade and Broward blasted with daily advisories on temperatures that feel over 105 degrees.

Accessing affordable health care can also be challenging for many in South Florida. Nearly 14% of people in Miami-Dade County and nearly 13% of people in Broward didn't have health insurance in 2022, according to the most recent estimate from the U.S. Census Bureau.

"If we really care about health, we have to start paying attention to these things," said Carrasquillo, who is working on a research project on how to address food insecurity and access to care.

So, what do South Florida counties need to work on? Let's take a dive into the U.S. News rankings:

How healthy are South Florida counties?

Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties all made it into Florida's Top 10 healthiest counties list. Miami-Dade is in the state's Top 25.

Counties were scored on a 100-point scale "tied to how they perform relative to one another," U.S. News said. The higher a county's score, the better it did.

Miami-Dade County had an overall score of 53, better than the state average of 46 and the U.S. average of 48. Its best score was in the economy category (83) and its worst was in housing (25). The county overall scored lower than the average for similar urban counties (61).

Broward County had an overall score of 62, better than the state average of 46 and the U.S. average of 48. Its best score was infrastructure (85) and its worst was in housing (25). Broward's overall score is slightly better than the average for similar urban counties (61).

Palm Beach County had an overall score of 61, better than the state average of 46 and the U.S. average of 48. Its best score was in infrastructure (85) and its worst was housing (34). Its score is overall in line with the average for urban counties (61).

Monroe County had an overall score of 60, better than the state average of 46 and the U.S. average of 48, though slightly under the urban county average of 61. Its best score was in infrastructure (91) and its worst score was housing (19).

In comparison, here's how the Top 3 healthiest counties in Florida did. Keep in mind that the higher the county's score, the better it did. For each county's national ranking, the lower the rank, the better.

St. Johns County is the healthiest county in Florida and No. 104 in national rankings. It had an overall score of 76, better than the state average of 46 and the U.S. average of 48. Its best score was in food and nutrition (87) and its worst was in public safety (64). St. Johns overall score is better than the average for urban counties (61).

Seminole County is the second healthiest county in Florida and No. 280 in national rankings. It had an overall score of 69, better than the state average of 46 and the U.S. average of 48. Its best score was in infrastructure (82) and its worst was in housing (40). Seminole's overall score is better than the average for urban counties (61).

Sarasota County is the third healthiest county in Florida and No. 465 in national rankings. It had an overall score of 64, better than the state average of 46 and the U.S. average of 48. Its best score was in infrastructure (88) and its worst was in housing (44). Sarasota's overall score is slightly better than the average for urban counties (61).

Local impact of the rankings

Carrasquillo, the UM medical school researcher, hopes the new rankings from U.S. News will serve as a "signal for our policy makers in each county to look at where they need to pay attention to because we can invest all the money we want in delivering healthcare, but we're not going to have good health outcomes if we don't pay attention to this."

Some of the U.S. News categories South Florida counties did poorly in this year, such as housing, mirror the results of the most recent assessment Jackson Health System, Miami-Dade's public hospital network, did with Miami-Dade County and other South Florida hospitals, including UHealth, to better understand what was affecting people's health and ability to get care.

The report, which was published last year, indicated that better access to care, a need for more mental health resources, and a desire for more financial stability were the top three concerns in the county. Other longstanding issues, including affordable housing and food insecurity, also ranked high on people's mind.

Top 10 healthiest Florida counties

U.S. News & World Report, which also annually publishes "Best Hospital" and "Best Children's Hospital" rankings, partnered with the University of Missouri Extension Center for Applied Research and Engagement Systems to collect and analyze 92 metrics across 10 health and health-related categories for nearly 3,000 counties to create the list of 500 healthiest communities in America.

Counties were scored on a 100-point scale "tied to how they perform relative to one another," U.S. News states. "A score of 100 indicates a county saw high success in a given metric – a high score for the accidental death rate metric, for example, indicates a lower rate of such deaths in a county – while a score of 0 indicates there is much room for improvement," U.S. News states.

U.S. News says the chosen metrics were based on key factors for community health previously identified by the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics, a federal policy advisory board, as well as leading population health experts. This led to the inclusion of an equity category, according to the publication.

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