Northwest Arkansas' health ranks highest in state
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Benton County is the healthiest county in the state, and Washington County is right on its heels, a new report says.
How it works: The County Health Rankings & Roadmaps report ranks each county nationwide by health outcomes like premature deaths and factors like obesity, smoking, education and poverty.
The intrigue: While Arkansas trails the nation in overall health, Benton and Washington counties are doing better than the national average.
- In Benton County, 10% of children live in poverty, compared to 21% statewide and 16% nationwide. The county's rate of injury deaths like homicides, suicides and car accidents is 61 per 100,000 people — significantly lower than the state's 89 and the nation's 80 per 100,000 people.
- Washington County has a child poverty rate of 14%, and the injury-death rate is 52 per 100,000 people.
Yes, but: Benton County still trails the nation in rates for adult obesity (35% vs. 34%), adult smoking (16% vs. 15%) and teen births (21 vs. 17 per 1,000 females ages 15-19).
- Washington County's obesity rate is slightly lower than the national average at 33%, although 18% of its adults smoke and the teen birth rate is 22 per 1,000 females ages 15-19.
- Washington County's rate of sexually transmitted diseases is notably on the high end at 675.4 new chlamydia diagnoses per 100,000 people, compared to 592.8 statewide and 495.5 per 100,000 people in the U.S.
Zoom out: Arkansas ranks below the national average for health care providers in relation to population.
- Nationally, there are 1,330 people for every primary health care doctor, but that number is 1,480 in Arkansas.
- The state has one dentist per every 2,040 people, compared to one per every 1,360 people nationally.
- In Arkansas, there's one mental health provider per every 380 people. Nationally, there's one per every 320 people.