New data from the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute analyzes & ranks the health of U.S. counties. The institute publishes the 2023 County Health Rankings every year. The organization has released health information for each of Oregon’s 36 counties.
Jackson County was the 13th healthiest county in the state. Josephine County came in at 32nd, and Klamath County was 33rd, respectively. The healthiest area is Washington County, while the least healthy is Lake County.
There are a number of metrics used to calculate how healthy the overall population of an Oregon county is. Here is some of the combined data used for the approximately 223,734 residents of Jackson County.
Health Factors
Health Factors represent those things we can modify to improve the length and quality of life for residents.
In this category, Jackson County is ranked among the healthiest counties in Oregon (Highest 75%-100%).
Health Outcomes
Health outcomes represent how healthy a county is right now, in terms of length of life and quality of life as well.
For this category, Jackson County is ranked in the higher middle range of counties in Oregon (Higher 50%-75%).
According to the latest data (2021), Jackson County’s median household income was $63,300. That is the 15th highest amount out of the 36 Oregon counties.
Josephine County had the 3rd lowest household median income at $49,800, while Klamath County was 2nd lowest at $49,700. Wheeler County came in last place with a median household income of $43,500. The highest in the state is Washington County with $91,900.
The correlation between higher wealth counties and higher health outcomes is noticeable. However, there are a number of factors that are taken into account in this study. You can check out the full data here.
Source: University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute
