Health Outcomes Among Wisconsin's Counties Not Equal

Tuesday, April 4th, 2023 -- 10:01 AM

(By Joe Schulz, Wisconsin Public Radio) Health outcomes are not even across Wisconsin’s 72 counties, and even the healthiest counties have sharp disparities, with Black residents far more likely to die prematurely, according to new data from the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Population Health Institute.

According to Joe Schulz with Wisconsin Public Radio, the institute released its 2023 County Health Rankings last week, which looked at health outcomes in every county in the state and nearly every county in the United States.

They also compared Wisconsin’s health outcomes to the nation’s, and looked at the civic health of each county. Of the state’s 72 counties, Ozaukee County had the best overall health outcomes, while Menominee County ranked last.

Those rankings evaluate length of life and quality of life, and several other measures. The so-called "WOW" counties of Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington all ranked in the top five, while neighboring Milwaukee County ranked 70th out of 72 counties, the data showed.

Nicholas Schmuhl, a research and analytics scientist with County Health Rankings & Roadmaps, said there’s a long-running pattern of Milwaukee being near the bottom of the state while its suburban neighbors rank near the top.

"Milwaukee County is suffering from more premature deaths than its neighbors and, in fact, more than the state of Wisconsin on average, and more than the United States on average," he said. "Whereas those neighboring counties (Ozaukee, Waukesha and Washington counties) are doing a bit better than the state and better than the nation in general."

At the same time, Milwaukee and the WOW counties all see disparities between Black residents and white residents, Schmuhl said. In Milwaukee, Black residents are more than twice as likely to die prematurely than their white neighbors, he said.

Neighboring counties had similar disparities. "It's not only important to look at that overall number that certainly is indicative of how a community is doing overall, but we're also concerned that everyone has the opportunity to be as healthy as possible within a county," Schmuhl said. "And these data show that not everyone in every county has the same opportunity to be healthy."

Milwaukee also struggled with low birth weights more than the WOW counties, and researchers saw similar disparities between Black and white residents in that category as well, Schmuhl said.

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