Report: Carver Co. ranked healthiest county in Minn.
Lower than average rates of premature death and smoking are factors that make Carver County the healthiest county in Minnesota, according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute.
KARE 11 says the report examines the health and well-being of people living in nearly every county in the country.
Carver County also scored well under "Social & Economic Factors" such as higher than average high school graduation rates, along with low poverty and unemployment rates.
Most other healthy areas in the state around the metro, KARE 11 reports.
In last place is northern Minnesota's Cass County, where more people are uninsured, in "bad or poor" health or obese.
"When we see these health differences across the state, it becomes clear that we need to invest in the Statewide Health Improvement Program, so that we can have the resources needed to implement a statewide approach that at the same time relies on local expertise to create an approach tailored to each community,” said Dr. Ed Ehlinger, Minnesota Commissioner of Health, in a WCCO report.
