Stephens Drops in County Health Rankings

Stephens County drops in a yearly study that ranks counties by their health.

Recently, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute released their yearly rankings of counties in states across the country by how healthy they are.

In that study, Stephens County ranked 118th out of 159 counties in the state of Georgia.

That is down from a ranking of 83rd last year.

The annual rankings measure health factors like obesity, smoking, unemployment, access to healthy foods, the quality of air and water, income, teen births, and more.

Those factors are then grouped into categories like length of life, quality of life, health behaviors, clinical care, social and economic factors, and physical environment.

Stephens County ranked 122nd in Georgia in length of life, 95th in quality of life, 31st in health behaviors, 41st in clinical care, 38th in social and economic factors, and 102nd in physical environment.

That compares to 2014, when Stephens County ranked 90th in length of life, 93rd in quality of life, 36th in health behaviors, 71st in clinical care, 52nd in social and economic factors and 117th in physical environment.

Looking at how other area counties rank statewide in the study, Habersham County ranks as the 18th healthiest county in the state; Franklin County ranks 81st on the list of healthiest counties; and Banks County ranks as the 70th healthiest county in the state.