Financial site identifies healthiest county in Arizona

The healthiest counties in each state were recently identified by 24/7 Wall St., and Arizona’s largest county was also found to be its healthiest.

Maricopa County beat out 14 others to be named the healthiest in Arizona.

Here are some figures about the central Arizona county, as found by 24/7 Wall St.:

• Percentage (of adults) without health insurance: 20.0
• Percentage food insecure: 15.7
• Obesity rate: 22.6
• 2013 unemployment rate: 6.7

The study also found that less than 20 percent of adults in Maricopa County reported being physically inactive — compared to 23 percent nationally. Also, the county’s 22.6 percent obesity rate came in well below the 27 percent of adults nationwide who reported being obese.

To identify the healthiest county in each state, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed health rankings in most counties and county equivalents in each state from County Health Rankings & Roadmaps. The rankings are based on a model developed by the University of Wisconsin and include about 70 different health measures from a range of sources, predominantly U.S. government surveys.

On a national level, 16 percent of Americans reported themselves as fair or poor when asked to rate their health as excellent, very good, good, fair or poor. Also, 24/7 Wall St. found that residents with higher income tend to live in safer neighborhoods that offer healthier, yet more expensive, food options.