Fairfax County is the healthiest county in Virginia, according to a study from the University of Wisconsin’s Population Health Institute released this week.
Three other Northern Virginia communities – Loudon County, Arlington County and Alexandria – cracked the top 10 healthiest communities, the study showed.
The study uses indicators like the percentage of adult smokers and adult obesity, and even social factors like poverty and crime to determine which counties are healthiest.
Another indicator of health used in the study is the premature death rate, which looks at county residents who died before age 75 and measures the years of potential life they lost. Fairfax ranks well below the state average in that category, and boasts fewer smokers, teenage mothers and uninsured residents than the rest of the state. (The percentage of heavy drinkers, however, tops the state average by 4 percentage points).
Petersburg, south of Richmond, ranked last in the health study, found here.
