Williamson Ranked Second-Healthiest County in Texas

For the fifth year in a row, Williamson County, home of Georgetown, has been in the No. 1 or No. 2 spot on an annual ranking of the healthiest counties in the state. The county health rankings were announced earlier this week.

Williamson is ranked the No. 2 healthiest county in Texas in the 2014 County Health Rankings, an annual report by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Williamson County was ranked the No. 1 healthiest county in Texas in the 2013 report.

Among the 232 counties in Texas, Williamson County, with a population of 471,000, had the highest rank among urban and suburban counties. Presidio County in West Texas, ranked No. 1 this year, has a population of 7,200.

The annual ranking is a report card that scores counties on a range of factors including air quality, clean water, community safety, commuting times, educational attainment, employment rates, graduation rates, health behaviors, health provider ratios, healthcare quality, and longevity.

The annual rankings are based on a variety of data sources such as the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, and the U.S. Census Bureau.

The rankings are available online at www.countyhealthrankings.org.