Cole County is ranked No. 18 among Missouri's 115 counties in a newly released health study.
The county improved its ranking from last year, when it ranked No. 21, in the study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
The study looked at seven areas, including length of life, quality of life, health factors, healthy behaviors, clinical care, social and economic factors, and physical environment. These areas helped determine the "health outcome" for all 115 counties in the state.
Overall, Cole County numbers were slightly better than its neighbors, with the exception of Moniteau, which ranked sixth, and Osage, which ranked 13th in the study.
Neighboring counties ranking below Cole County included Miller at 59 and Callaway at 62.
The study highlighted factors pertaining to poor or fair health, premature deaths, adult smoking, adult obesity, sexually transmitted diseases, accessibility to clinical care, high school graduation and violent crime rates.
"We're happy to be 18 out of 115, but of course, we want to continue to improve," said Kristi Campbell, director of the Cole County Health Department. "My goal is to look at these factors and the impact they have on our community and see what factors we can take on."
Campbell explained the Health Department can only measure on factors they can control, like adult obesity and smoking. Issues surrounding factors like unemployment and income inequality would be harder for the department to change.
Campbell attributes Cole County's rankings to unintended consequences of what the county has to offer.
"We are a bigger county, and we have two hospitals in town; neither of those counties have one," Campbell said. "In this case, it may not be necessarily about what we're doing."