Clear associations exist between community health and race, according to an analysis from U.S. News & World Report.
The publication's Race and Community Health in America analysis is part of its rankings of nearly 3,000 communities based on health. The project, done in collaboration with Aetna's philanthropic foundation, comprises census population estimates of race and ethnicity, paired with the U.S. News Healthiest Communities dataset. The rankings include 80 metrics from organizations like the CDC, the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Generally, communities with a greater share of white residents scored better, while communities with a greater share of black residents scored lower. Larger Hispanic and Native American populations were also linked with lower scores.
Here are three facts from the report:
1. Almost 700 U.S. communities have a larger black population than the national average of 13 percent. However, only 26 of those communities rank among the top 500 Healthiest Communities.
2. For populations with larger-than-average Hispanic populations, segregation is one of the top 15 drivers affecting community performance.
3. A negative relationship exists between how large a community's Native American population is and its Healthiest Communities scores.
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