The Rankings show us the many factors that impact how long and how well we live and help us to understand how counties compare within the state. With this knowledge, we can take steps to improve the health of all Oklahoma residents.
Counties ranked among the healthiest in Oklahoma include Canadian and Cleveland and counties ranked among the least healthy include Okfuskee and Harmon.
Canadian County
The County Health Rankings show how Canadian County ranks on factors that influence its overall health ranking. For example, Canadian county has strengths in the area(s) of Children Living in Poverty, Preventable Hospital Stays, and Access to Exercise Opportunities.
We also know that some groups in Canadian County may not have the necessary conditions to be healthy, such as a living wage job, affordable housing or access to healthy foods. We need to examine and address the gaps in neighborhood conditions that keep everyone in the community from realizing our full health potential. The County Health Rankings show that while only 6% of White Children are living in poverty in Canadian County, 29% of Hispanic Children and 27% of Hispanic Children are living in poverty.
Harmon County
The Rankings offer an opportunity for the community to work together to uncover the root causes for poor health outcomes in Harmon County. Rankings data can also shed light on where there are opportunities to improve and make Harmon County a healthier place for everyone to live, learn, work and play.
The Rankings also show us which of our neighboring counties we might learn from to improve the health of our community. Consulting with leaders in counties that ranked higher in certain areas can help us learn about best practices already working in our state. The neighboring county of Jackson is ranked in the higher middle range of counties in Oklahoma (Higher 50%-75%).
Tools and resources to help move your community with data to action:
In addition to reviewing your county’s ranks in specific areas, explore how your county is performing on individual measures to identify both areas where you are doing well and areas where you can improve.
• The Use the Data guide, the Areas to Explore and Areas of Strength features, individual measure trend graphs and data for racial/ethnic groups available on the County Health Rankings & Roadmaps website can assist you with this review.
• The County Health Rankings & Roadmaps program also offers What Works for Health, an easy-to-use, online tool to find evidence-informed policies, programs and systems changes to improve health for all. What Works for Health also has a series of curated strategy lists in wealth building, COVID-19 recovery, community safety and more. Each strategy is rated for its evidence of effectiveness and likely impact on health disparities.
• The Action Center provides your community with tools and guidance on ways to take action to improve health.
• The Partner Center shares guidance to help changemakers find the right partners and engage with them effectively.
• The Action Learning Guides help communities dig into specific topics with a blend of guidance, tools and hands-on practice and reflection activities. The Rankings also show which of your neighboring counties you might learn from to improve specific health factors in our community.
• With Compare Counties, leaders can compare ranks and measures for multiple counties across the country.
• The Peer Counties Tool allows communities to compare counties nationwide with similar populations matched on 19 key demographic, social and economic indicators.