19 Illinois Counties Named Among Healthiest Counties In America

Looking into the station snack vending machine this morning and realizing that pork rinds and beef sticks have been completely sold out made me realize pretty quickly that Winnebago County probably isn't on the list of the healthiest counties in Illinois.

Shockingly, I was right. Winnebago County is no where to be seen on the list. Maybe next year.

Illinois has 102 counties of varying sizes and demographic make up, but a new study says that at least nineteen of those counties have it all together when it comes to healthy lifestyles, and three of Illinois' counties are doing such a good job of it that they made the top 100 healthiest counties list.

So finish your boozy cocktails and gut-busting snacks and let's take a look at who's doing the healthy stuff right in this state.

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US News.Com Looked At A Whole Bunch Of Different Metrics To Come Up With The Numbers For Their "2024 Healthiest Communities Rankings"

Specifically, there were 92 different metrics used overall in the rankings of the healthiest communities in the country, but these 10 are the ones they used to come up with their scale of 1-100:

Population health
Equity
Education
Economy
Housing
Food and Nutrition
Environment
Public Safety
Community vitality
Infrastructure

Overall, US News gives Falls Church City, Virginia the nod for being the healthiest community in the nation, and these spots round out the top five:

Los Alamos County, New Mexico
Douglas County, Colorado
Sioux County, Iowa
Hamilton County, Indiana

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Now, Let's Get Illinois-Centric And Talk About The Illinois Counties That Made The List Of The Country's Healthiest

Keep in mind that US News looked at 3,140 counties over all, so making it into the top 500, the top 100, or even the top 50 is no small accomplishment. Here's how Illinois' counties ranked (hat-tip to Patch.com):

DuPage County (ranked 34 overall)
Monroe (77)
Kendall (95)
Woodford (113)
Piatt (134)
Menard (148)
McHenry (181)
Lake (199)
Kane (303)
Tazewill (330)
Clinton (334)
Will (339)
Jo Daviess (342)
Grundy (344)
DeWitt (366)
Washington (422)
McLean (423)
Ogle (449)

LOOK: 35 Vintage Cereals That Perfectly Captured Pop Culture Moments

Movies and TV shows have always found ways to partner with cereal companies as part of their promotion strategy. While some may have come up with a giveaway in boxes, others went big by having their own cereal connected to the movie or TV show title. Here are vintage cereals that were used to promote some of pop culture's biggest moments (and some you probably forgot about).

Gallery Credit: Rob Carroll