Santa Cruz County ranked 8th in a survey of the healthiest places to live in California.
Santa Cruz County ranked fairly high in a survey of the healthiest places to live in California. It came in eighth place, ahead of San Francisco (ranked 24th) and Los Angeles (ranked 26th). On the other hand, neighboring counties, including Santa Clara (ranked 4th) did better.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation survey measured a number of different factors, including air quality, quality of clinical care, and unhealthy behaviors such as binge drinking, the teenage birthrate, and obesity. Santa Cruz did well in terms of adult smoking and obesity. On the other hand, the report noted the prevalence of liquor stores per 10,000 people, which is twice as high as any of the neighboring counties. Mayor Mike Rotkin attributed this to Santa Cruz’s standing as a college town and vacation center. “People come here to have fun,” he said. On the other hand, just this past Wednesday, the Santa Cruz Sentinel reported that four men were stabbed in an “alcohol-fueled” gang fight downtown.
Other problems that tipped the balance against Santa Cruz were the low high school graduation rate of young Latinos and high rate of teenage pregnancy and obesity in Watsonville. This could be alleviated in future reports thanks to a $360,000 grant from the United Way’s Go for Health Collaborative to combat obesity in Watsonville. Read more at the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
