The Michigan County Health Rankings for 2018 have been released. This year a northern Michigan county has been named the second healthiest county in the state..
According to the list, Grand Traverse County moved up from fourth place last year to second this year just behind Ottawa.
On the other end of the list, Mackinac County dropped from 25 last year to 69 in 2018.
Kate Konkle is an associate researcher at the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. She said a number of measures are taken into consideration.
“How long people are living how many people are dying too young, we think about the quality of life so people that are in good health or not, adult obesity, excessive drinking, how many people in your county are uninsured, we look at high school graduation rates and rates of children in poverty.”
Konkle said this year the study took a closer look at children. She said it gave more weight to the health of children living in poverty
Konkle said other things that factor into health rankings are crime rates, birth weight, and health behaviors.
A full list of 2018’s County Health Rankings can be found here.