Oregon Public Broadcasting

Northwesterners are known for living an active, outdoor lifestyle. But New England has us beat in a new ranking of the healthiest states. Olympia correspondent Austin Jenkins got a sneak peak at the report, which comes out Friday.

For the first time, Washington is among the top 10 healthiest states in the nation. Idaho comes in at number 17. Oregon at 21.

This is based on the 2008 Healthiest State Report Card. It’s put out by the Washington Health Foundation.

Don Sloma is the Foundation’s Policy Director. He says the study ranks states based on several factors including: smoking, exercise and high school graduation.

Don Sloma: “We’ve had to take a lot of questions about why are we tracking on-time high school graduation rates as a health parameter. Well it’s because the mountain of evidence shows that education attainment may be among the most important indicators of lifelong health.”

Graduation rates are a weak spot for Washington and Oregon. Idaho though ranks in the top 15.

But Washington and Oregon are tops in the nation when it comes to healthy birth weights. That’s according to another recent health survey by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

The top states in the Healthiest State Report card are: Vermont, Connecticut and Minnesota. The bottom states are Louisiana and Mississippi.

Online:

Washington Health Foundation