DeKalb County has the second-worst score of any county in the immediate Atlanta area in U.S. News & World Report's Healthiest Communities report issued Tuesday.
Only Clayton County scored lower than DeKalb in the rankings, which are based on community vitality, equity, economy, education, environment, food and nutrition, population health, housing, public safety and infrastructure. Forsyth County scored much higher than other counties surrounding Atlanta.
Atlanta-area counties and their scores:
Cobb 56.1
Douglas 47.8
Forsyth 75.4
Gwinnett 49.8
Fulton 44.9
DeKalb 40.1
Rockdale 44.6
Clayton 29
U.S. News' "Overview of DeKalb County" details how the county's score was computed. U.S. News collaborated with the Aetna Foundation using 84 different metrics in 10 categories to compile this year's list of Healthiest Communities.
Overall, DeKalb scored better than the average for Georgia counties, but it was below the national average. DeKalb fared poorly for equity, community vitality, public safety and housing.
Los Alamos County, New Mexico, was ranked the nation's healthiest community of 2020.
