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Congratulations, fellow Eau Clairians, we're pretty healthy. According to the 2012 County Health Rankings for Wisconsin, we're among the healthiest counties in Wisconsin.

The Rankings, published online by the UW Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), break their data into two parts: health outcomes and health factors. The outcomes measure things like mortality, premature deaths, physical and mental health, and low birthweights. Out of the total 72 Wis. counties, Eau Claire ranks 19th in the health outcomes category.

The second main health pillar in the Rankings is health factors. This data measures the things that affect health, like diet, exercise, clinical care, socioeconomic factors, and the physical environment. Eau Claire comes in 11th place for health factors, but unfortunately this is a drop from 6th place last year.

What's that you say? We're getting less healthy? Well, sort of, but not exactly. This year the Rankings introduced "new measures, such as how many fast food restaurants are in a county and levels of physical inactivity among residents," says the official press release. And Eau Claire just happens to have a Whopper of a percentage of fast food joints: 52% of our total restaurant population, the highest in Wisconsin. So even though we still have clean air, better recreational facilities, and great access to lots of healthy foods, the newly-introduced fast food data gives a more accurate picture of the built environment factors that influence our health.

The top 5 Wis. counties in Health Outcomes are Ozaukee, Florence, Waukesha, St. Croix, and Washington.

The top 5 Wis. counties in Health Factors are Ozaukee, Waukesha, Dane, La Crosse, and Pierce.

Check out the County Health Ranking's website for more information on living healthy. They're even offering a $25,000 prize for the six counties with the best roadmaps to heath!