America's Health Rankings 2011

Health is a result of our behaviors, our individual genetic predisposition to disease, the environment and the community in which we live, the clinical care we receive and the policies and practices of our health care and prevention systems. Each of us — individually, as a community, and as a society — strives to optimize these health determinants, so that all of us can have a long, disease-free and robust life regardless of race, gender or socioeconomic status.

This report looks at the four groups of health determinants that can be affected:

1. Behaviors include the everyday activities we do that affect our personal health. 
2. Community and environment reflects the reality that the daily conditions in which we live our lives have a great effect on achieving optimal individual health. 
3. Public and health policies are indicative of the availability of resources to encourage and maintain health and the extent that public and health programs reach into the general population.
4. Clinical care reflects the quality, appropriateness and cost of the care we receive at doctors' offices, clinics and hospitals.

Direct link to full report