Top 10 Performing States

1. Massachusetts
2. California
3. Washington
4. Oregon
5. New Hampshire
6. Utah
7. Rhode Island
8. New York
9. Idaho
10. Iowa/Connecticut

Top Takeaways

Top performing states have better health outcomes and are generally closer to HOPE Goals.

• In most cases, they also have lower inequities as compared to other states.
• However, important exceptions and areas for improvement exist.

Top performing states in the Far West and Rocky Mountains, for instance, have average to above average inequities in adult health status, even though overall they appear close to the HOPE Goals. What is driving these inequities?

• There is a wide gap between people with the best health outcomes and all others. For example, White adults in California and Colorado have among the best adult health status as compared to White adults nationally, leaving a wide gap between them and all other race/ethnic groups within their own state.
• There is a wide gap between those with the poorest health outcomes and all other groups. For example, Hispanic adults in Washington and Rhode Island face disproportionately poorer health than all other race/ethnic groups who fare generally well.

Bottom 10 Performing States

1. West Virginia
2. Tennessee
3. Mississippi
4. District of Columbia
5. Alabama
6. Louisiana
7. Arkansas
8. Hawaii
9. Delaware
10. Kentucky

Top Takeaways

All bottom performing states are located in the Southeast.

• These states generally have the poorest health outcomes and are farthest from the HOPE Goals.
• They face varying levels of inequities.

Many bottom performing states are both far from the HOPE Goals and face high inequities.

• For example, all bottom performing states are farthest from the HOPE goals for premature mortality and also face wide inequities.

Many bottom performing states are far from the HOPE Goals, but have low levels of inequity. In other words, either everyone is faring poorly, or even those with the best outcomes are worse-off than their peers in other states.

• For example, whereas White adults fare the best on health status in West Virginia, their rate is the lowest compared to White adults nationwide.
• In addition, there is little separation (ranging from 33% to 39%) between adults with the best and poorest health status in West Virginia, suggesting everyone is doing poorly on this measure.