Davidson County Shows Room for Improvement in New Health Rankings

U.S. News & World Report’s 2022 Healthiest Communities rankings show large disparities between Davidson County and neighboring Williamson County, as well as sister cities across the country.

The rankings examine 3,000 U.S. counties and county equivalents on how they perform in 10 health and health-related categories. The categories used in the Healthiest Communities framework were: Population Health, Equity, Education, Economy, Housing, Food & Nutrition, Environment, Public Safety, Community Vitality, and Infrastructure.

On a scale from zero to 100, Davidson County, which includes metro Nashville, earned an overall health score of 43 – the lowest of all comparable sister cities. Denver (59), Charlotte (57), and Atlanta (54) all scored better in assessments of population health and examinations of the social determinants of health. 

Davidson County also earned the lowest Mental Health Score of all similarly sized cities, with a score of 55. For comparison, the U.S. Median Score was listed at 47 and Tennessee’s was 36. We must do better.

While neighboring Williamson County ranked as the 19th Healthiest Community in the report with an overall health score of 85, Davidson County did not even make the list of the Top 500 Healthiest Communities. Of note, Williamson County has a very low percentage of people without health insurance, low smoking rate, and a strong economy that help lead the way to a high life expectancy, strong vaccination rate, and access to a healthy diet and green spaces. 

Davidson County also scored the lowest in public safety with a particularly high score in violent crime. According to the report, the life expectancy is 4.5 years higher if you live in Williamson County (81.7 years) than if you live in Davidson County (77.0 years). However, Davidson County did score well on infrastructure (access to broadband and walkability) and access to healthcare. 

Clearly, there is much work to do in our Nashville community to combat health disparities and to ensure that every single Nashvillian has a fair and just opportunity to be healthy. At NashvilleHealth, we are on a mission to identify the obstacles to health that our city faces, and to work in a collective, collaborative, and coordinated way to improve the health and well-being of our community.