Eleven of Maryland’s 24 counties or county equivalents landed in the top 500 of the 2021 Healthiest Communities rankings.
According to U.S. News:
The fourth annual project from U.S. News assessed nearly 3,000 communities nationwide across dozens of metrics, exploring the critical role location plays in the well-being of hundreds of millions of Americans. Metrics such as a community’s crime rates, access to parks, high school graduation and poverty rates, and household income are grouped into 10 categories ranging from the economy, equity and population health to the environment, food and nutrition, and community vitality. Communities are scored on a 100-point scale tied to how they perform relative to one another, and receive a ranking based on their performance as well.
Overall, Maryland’s 15 highest-scoring communities performed best in the economy, population health and public safety categories. On average, they achieved their worst scores in the housing, environment and community vitality categories.
The top 15 include:
15. Kent County
14. Prince George’s County
13. Garrett County
12. St. Mary’s County
11. Baltimore County
10. Talbot County
9. Charles County
8. Queen Anne’s County
7. Harford County
6. Frederick County
5. Carroll County
4. Anne Arundel County
3. Calvert County
2. Montgomery County
1. Howard County
