Benton County is the healthiest in Arkansas
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Benton County residents fare best overall in health in the state, with Washington County residents doing among the best in Arkansas and slightly better than the national average, according to a new report.
How it works: The annual County Health Rankings and Roadmaps report by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute assesses counties' population health and wellbeing, taking into account factors like premature death and poor physical health days.
- It also looks at community conditions like access to exercise opportunities, income inequality and access to healthy food.
The big picture: Both NWA counties are better off economically than most of the state.
- About 9% of children in Benton County and 14% of children in Washington County live in households in poverty, compared to 20% statewide and 16% nationally, according to the report.
- Benton and Washington counties also have lower unemployment rates, higher rates of residents with a college education and lower ratios of income inequality than Arkansas overall.
Zoom in: About 17% of Benton County residents reported being in poor or fair health, compared to 23% across the state. Washington County's rate was 22%.
- Roughly 77% of Benton County residents and 83% of Washington County residents lived close to a park or recreational facility, higher than the state average of 63%.
- The rate of injury deaths like murders, suicides and car accidents were 62 deaths per 100,000 people in Benton County and 54 per 100,000 people in Washington County. The state's rate was 91, higher than the nation's 84 per 100,000 people.
Yes, but: Benton County notably has fewer primary care physicians, mental health providers and dentists per resident than the state and Washington County, which has more of these health care professionals per resident than Arkansas does on average, according to the report.
- The state's healthiest county was also generally on par with the state in some factors like excessive drinking (19% of adults binge drinking) and people without health insurance (11%).
- And 14% of Benton County adults smoke, slightly higher than the national rate of 13%, but lower than Arkansas' 20%.
Go deeper: Explore the data.