Study Shows Cortland County Residents Aren't Very Healthy
A new health rankings report shows that people in Cortland County need to start taking better care of their bodies. The study measures healthy behaviors by county, and ranks them in every state.
Cortland County ranks 43rd out of 62 counties for overall health, the study which looked at smoking rates, obesity, alcohol consumption, S-T-D’s, motor vehicle deaths, and teen birth rates finds Cortland County has a lot of work to do to improve the health of its citizens.
The rankings released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and University of Wisconsin shows, 15% of Cortland County residents are in poor health, the national average is 10%. 21% of adults in the county smoke compared to 13% nationally.
Cortland County also exceeds the national averages for physical inactivity, adult obesity, excessive drinking, motor vehicle fatalities, and sexually transmitted diseases. The one area the county beats the national average is teen birth rate.
The study shows county residents have average or above average access to health care, but poverty and unemployment rates here are higher than the national benchmarks.
Cortland County pollution levels are higher, but residents do have access to health foods, the number of fast food restaurants in the area is almost twice as high as the national average.
Neighboring Tompkins County ranked 3rd in the study, Tioga County was 15th, Broome was listed 48th. The least healthy county is the Bronx which came in dead last.