This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The 10,608 residents of Morgan County generally live a long time, give birth to relatively few low-weight babies and report that their mental and physical health is good most days — outcomes that ranked the 609-square-mile area in northern Utah as the healthiest in the state for the seventh straight year.
The national County Health Rankings, published Wednesday, scores counties for health outcomes — quality and length of life — and health factors, which include obesity, smoking and alcohol consumption, plus external components such as violent crime, air pollution and access to health care.
The densely populated Wasatch Front and Back was home to the top counties for health outcomes and factors, with the fairly rural Morgan County ranked No. 1 in both categories. Salt Lake County, Utah's largest county by population, missed the top 5, however.
The lowest-ranking counties were in rural eastern Utah. Carbon County was last for health outcomes, with 11,300 years "lost" by residents who died before reaching age 75. San Juan County was last for health factors, with high levels of smoking, unemployment and sexually transmitted infections.
Piute, Daggett and Rich counties had populations that were too small to be ranked.
Salt Lake County was 10th out of the 26 ranked counties, with high levels of violent crime and STIs and a high school graduation rate that was lower than San Juan and Carbon counties.
Even Morgan County wasn't perfect — the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, which developed the rankings, noted that the county has a low ratio of dentists and mental-health providers to residents and few opportunities for social engagement, and that 82 percent of the county's workforce drive solo on their daily commutes.
Comparable county-by-county and state-by-state data can be found at countyhealthrankings.org.