Howard County snags healthiest community in Maryland, according to report; Anne Arundel 4th, Carroll 5th, Harford 7th

Jul. 1—Howard County was ranked as the healthiest community in Maryland and took eighth place in the top 500 healthiest communities nationwide, according to U.S. News and World Reports' fourth annual Healthiest Communities Rankings.

"Howard County in the top 10 nationwide is pretty cool," said Michael Sanderson, executive director of Maryland Association of Counties. "Maryland tends to do very well in quality of life. No big surprise."

Of Maryland's 24 counties, Howard County was joined by 10 others, including Anne Arundel, Carroll, Harford and Baltimore counties, in the top 500.

Developed by a committee appointed to advise the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the project scored nearly 3,000 counties on 84 indicators across 10 categories according to the U.S. News' website.

The categories were: population health; equity; education; economy; housing; food and nutrition; environment; public safety; community vitality; and infrastructure.

Maryland's 15 highest-scoring communities performed best in the economy, population health and public safety categories. On average, the worst scores were in the housing, environment and community vitality categories, according to the website.

Maryland's top 15 healthiest communities were:

1. Howard County (eighth overall)

2. Montgomery County (65 overall)

3. Calvert County (165 overall)

4. Anne Arundel County (202 overall)

5. Carroll County (226 overall)

6. Frederick County (247 overall)

7. Harford County (259 overall)

8. Queen Anne's County (377 overall)

9. Charles County (455 overall)

10. Talbot County (462 overall)

11. Baltimore County (490 overall)

12. St. Mary's County

13. Garrett County

14. Prince George's County

15. Kent County