After improvement last year, Cowlitz County’s health has stalled among the least healthy of Washington’s counties, according to an annual county health report.
Out of the state’s 39 counties, Cowlitz ranked 31st in health outcomes, a slight backslide from last year, and 28th in health factors, a two-slot improvement.
The county-level report was released Tuesday by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin’s Population Health Institute. The national study compiles its county rankings using local health measures from a variety of data sources. (The full report is attached to this story at TDN.com.)
The health outcome ranking represents how long people live and how healthy people feel. The health factor measure is an estimate of the future health of the county compared to the others in the state based on health behaviors, clinical care, social and economic factors and physical environment.
The five healthiest counties are San Juan, King, Snohomish, Island and Thurston counties. The least healthy are Ferry, Columbia, Pacific, Grays Harbor and Pend Oreille counties.
Many factors contributing to Cowlitz County’s rankings have remained about the same, including the rate of premature deaths, adult obesity, physical inactivity, number of primary care physicians, unemployment and violent crime. However, Cowlitz County ranks worse than the state average on all of these except violent crime.
Cowlitz did see some improvement: the number of alcohol-impaired driving deaths and the percentage of uninsured people decreased, and the ratio of dentists improved.
This year’s report focused on housing’s role in health and health equity, saying stable and affordable housing is an essential element in healthy communities.
“Nationwide, housing costs far exceed affordability given local incomes in many communities. As a result, people have no choice but to spend too much on housing, leaving little left for other necessities,” the report says.
About 14 percent of households in Cowlitz County spend 50 percent or more of their income on housing, according to the report. (The U.S. Census classifies residents who pay more than a third of their monthly income on housing as “income distressed.”)
The report says higher numbers of severely cost burdened households are associated with more food insecurity, poorer health and more child poverty.
