Every year, we take a look at County Health Rankings and consider how ARC’s member counties perform relative to other counties in Georgia. And year after year we find that, from the macro perspective, we perform better than most of the state in both health outcomes (getting sick) and health factors (illness prevention). The maps below, which are also in our recent public health Regional Snapshot, show this big picture of our health, with top rankings in the lightest shades.

Source: County Health Rankings, 2021 Data

That map to the right matters to a lot of us right now because, well, the word “resolutionists” exists among the year-round gym-going set for a reason. When looking at health factors, County Health Rankings considers healthy behaviors, including physical inactivity and access to exercise opportunities, as well as smoking, obesity and excessive drinking. The rankings are based on estimates of our year-round behaviors.

When it comes to physical inactivity, County Health Rankings estimates that 26 percent of adults age 20 and older do not engage in any leisure-time physical activity (that’s exercise to you and me). On the flip side, that means 74 percent of us are. Below, we’re taking a look at the local picture of physical inactivity, and we can see that with just a couple of exceptions, our residents are less likely to be physically inactive than the statewide average.

One of the reasons why could be our access to gyms and other healthy activity opportunities relative to the rest of the state. The chart below shows that, statewide, 75 percent of residents have adequate access to exercise opportunities — defined as a half more from a park or one to three miles from a rec center based on whether someone lives in an urban or rural area. Here, we can see that our rates of residents fitting these criteria is higher than the statewide average.

Yes, we should pat ourselves on the back because, relative to the rest of the state, we are doing a good job of hitting the gym or the trails, but that doesn’t mean the entire picture is rosy. Below, we can see that many of our counties actually have higher rates of residents who smoke than we see across the state.

And here, we can see that despite our access to gym and comparatively lower rates of physical inactivity, we aren’t seeing much lower rates of adult obesity compared to the state, and some counties even see higher rates.

Finally, the chart below shows what more than a few of us might have suspected — we drink pretty heavily relative to the state. So while it’s the season for indulgence, might we suggest reconsidering another round? (Sorry to be the party downer!)