Well, here's something slightly counter-intuitive. Miami-Dade county is apparently the 11th healthiest out of Florida's 67 counties. What's more is that we ranked the healthiest in the state in "Health Behaviors," a category that takes into account smoking, binge drinking and risky sex.
CountyHealthRankings.org found that Miamians' rates for tobacco smoking, adult obesity and motor vehicle deaths are at our below target levels, and well below the average for the rest of Florida.
While the rates for teen birth, chlamydia and binge drinking are above the survey's target levels, our rates are well below the state average. All in all, this puts Miami-Dade in the number one spot for the "Health Behaviors" category. So to the rest of Florida who writes us off as a bunch of hedonists, we actually have healthier habits than you.
We also ranked 5th for a low rate of premature deaths, and 3rd for environmental factors like air pollution.
So what dragged us down to 11? Rampant numbers of uninsured adults, high health care costs and social and economic factors. Bummer time.
Miami-Dade ranked 55th in "Clinical Care," which takes access to care and quality of care into account. A large number of uninsured adults, costly access to primary care physicians and a large number of preventable hospital stays gave us the low-ranking.
We also ranked 52nd for socio-economic concerns. Our lower levels of education, high crime rates, and number of single parent households were taken into effect.
All in all, we're healthier than our South Florida brethren who live in Broward (#14 ), Palm Beach (#12) and Monroe (#16) counties.
Though, our neighbor across the Everglades, Collier County, was ranked the healthiest in the entire states. That's good news for those of you considering putting your grandparents in a home over there.