Beaufort / Lexington SC’s healthiest counties

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A new report says Beaufort and Lexington are South Carolina’s healthiest counties, based on longevity, access to health care and education of residents.

The University of Wisconsin’s Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation released their annual county health rankings report Wednesday.

The report used a formula to measure how healthy people are based on the rate of people dying before age 75, the percentage of people who report being in fair or poor health, the number of days people report being in poor physical and poor mental health, and the rate of low-birth weight infants.

Lee County ranked as the state’s least healthy with high rates of unemployment, child poverty and single-parent households.

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