The Health of Lake County
Despite improvements in areas including sexually transmitted infections and violent crime, Lake County is not as healthy as it was just a year ago, according to the 2013 County Health Rankings, which were released this week.
Of 102 counties in Illinois, Lake County ranks 16—a seven-spot drop over 2012's rank of 9. In 2011, the county's health ranking was 8.
While there is room for improvement given the consecutive drops in rank, the Lake County Health Department is not discouraged.
"While our county ranking dipped from 9th to 16th, we are still a very healthy county compared with Illinois as a whole," said Mark Pfister, Director of Population Health Services at the Lake County Health Department and Community Health Center.
"As a result of a change in the Lake County survey, more people reported experiencing days when they were sick or in poor mental health, and that affected our overall ranking because it had a greater weight in the calculation. But in general, we did not see major changes in our data set. In fact, we improved in some areas, such as our violent crime and motor vehicle crash death rates decreased," Pfister continued.
Neighboring Illinois counties ranked as follows:
- Cook: 8
- DeKalb: 14
- DuPage: 6
- Kane: 12
- McHenry: 17
The healthiest county, according to the County Health Ratings, is Douglas, while Alexander County came in last at 102.
Lake County
The Lake County report shows improvement in unemployment, high school graduation, violent crime, motor vehicle crash deaths, sexually transmitted infections and the number of fast food restaurants in the county.
However, the report also reflects that the rate of child poverty, uninsured persons, excessive drinking and premature death had increased over 2012.
Rates related to teen births, adult smoking and obesity were unchanged over last year.
| Category | Lake County 2013 | Lake County 2012 | State 2013 | Nation 2013 | |
| Unemployment | 9.4% | 10.5% | 9.8% | 5% | |
| High School Graduation |
88% | 86% | 82% | Data not compared with prior years due to changes in definition. | |
| Child Poverty | 16% |
12% |
21% |
14% |
|
| Teen Births per 1,000 ages 15-19 |
27 | 27 | 38 | 21 | |
| Uninsured | 13% | 12% | 16% | 11% | |
| Violent Crime per 100,000 people | 137 | 194 |
486 |
66 |
|
| Fast Food Restaurants |
53% | 54% | 50% | 27% | |
| Adult Smokers |
15% | 15% | 19% | 13% | |
| Adult Obesity |
25% |
25% |
27% |
25% |
|
| Excessive Drinking |
18% | 16% | 20% | 7% | |
| Motor Vehicle Crash Deaths per 100,000 |
6 |
8 | 10 |
10 |
|
| Sexually Transmitted Infections per 100,000 |
282 |
302 |
473 |
92 |
|
| Premature Deaths |
4,789 |
4,753 |
6,604 | 5,317 |
The County Health Rankings, published by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, rank the health of nearly every county in the nation and show that much of what affects health occurs outside of the doctor’s office.
The ratings help counties understand what influences how healthy residents are and how long they will live. The rankings are based on the latest data publicly available for each county, according to the County Health Rankings website.