Southwest Florida, Collier, Lee County decline on the annual Community Well-Being Index

The metropolitan area of ​​Naples-Marco Island has dominated the Community Well-Being Index in the past and at times occupied first place for four years in a row, with other Sunshine Staters also showing consistently good results.

This does not apply to the annual survey, which addresses factors that include residents’ views on health, financial security, community, and meaningfulness. Collier crashed to 43rd, and Florida had most of its parishes in the last half of the 383 metros rated and 15 of the 23 in the bottom 200 or so. Lee County ranked 181st in the report released Thursday.

The Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, empowered by its access to community food at healthy grocery stores and grocery stores, led the state, ranked 39th overall.

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The research comes from the digital health company Sharecare, which runs Blue Zones projects in southwest Florida among others, and the Boston University School of Public Health.

They compiled 2020 results from 450,000 surveys of households and others, and dug even deeper with 600 data points collected by various agencies such as the U.S. Census, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the 2018 version, Naples was last number 1, which belongs to the San Francisco area in 2019 and this in 2020.

The organizations conclude that Collier County is not doing much worse. Only other regions have improved so much.

“Naples has not fallen abruptly,” said Riley Brands, corporate communications manager at Sharecare. “Given the 2020 statewide trends for improved wellbeing, the MSA has declined in the rankings for general wellbeing, physical wellbeing, social and community wellbeing. (There) have been some major shifts affecting the overall ranking. “

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And Brands told me that Collier sank in the final standings, but had actually done better in some of the categories just listed.

“Take into account the overall context. There have been many improvements (in) many areas since 2019,” said Brands. “Between 2019-2020, some parishes went through really big changes, which means that even those (like Naples) whose numbers have stayed the same or even improved slightly may look a little different than expected.”

Concerns about financial security

While Brands did not publish full rankings for each of the analyzed categories, it stated that “the Naples MSA was seen for this item from the 22nd nationwide and for the majority of MSAs.”

So that’s right. We didn’t feel more secure financially last year, but still moved up because there was a bit of blues almost everywhere in 2020 when it came to money.

That stress plays a bit of a role in housing costs in Southwest Florida and across the country, which we detailed on Monday. In the latest statistics available, Collier, Lee, and Charlotte counties rank in the top 12 metropolitan areas nationwide for the highest annual percentage increase in average home sales prices.

And Collier is now one of the 17 US metropolises where a family needed more than 100,000 US dollars to pay a mortgage with a 10% down payment. The National Association of Realtors metrics consider a mortgage affordable if the payment is no more than 25% of the family’s income.

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Among the country’s first-time buyers, the mortgage payment for a 10% down payment rose to 25% of income, compared to 21% a year ago.

In the new poll, a Florida community that finished ahead of Collier in Financial Welfare was The Villages of central Florida, which also topped several groupings such as social and community, which include feelings of security and civic pride 5 ranked.

Nonetheless, it was still hammering the overall rankings, checking in at number 265 after finishing in the top five for health care access.

It’s also not shiny and bright for everyone, according to the report:

“Subpopulations – particularly those infected with the COVID-19 virus, those with high financial stressors and poor economic security, and ethnic and ethnic groups unevenly affected by the virus and the pandemic – saw unprecedented decline in physical health Well-being and overall health and thus the lowest life expectancy since 2003. “

questions and answers

Here are some of my questions and answers for Elizabeth Colyer, Senior Vice President and Head of the Community Well-Being Index at Sharecare.

Q: It seems the rankings for Naples, which have been at the top for so long, and Florida could come as a shock to the system. What more clarity can the readers be given in this sense and also that, despite COVID-19, there would be an improved well-being nationwide in 2020?

A: “The Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island metropolitan area has long been a stronghold of wellbeing thanks to a local culture that emphasized wellness. Even in 2020, a year that put American communities to the test, Naples was thriving in many areas to see an increase in well-being in the physical, dedicated and social spheres.

“A couple of things to keep in mind about the larger rankings:

“Since 2019, Sharecare has been able to rate all 383 US metropolises, about twice as much as in our rankings before 2019.

“Starting in 2019, the scope of sharecare research has expanded. Now the rankings capture the performance of communities in the five individual wellness areas that the Naples region has excelled in in the past – physical, dedicated, collaborative, social and financial – as well as five Areas related to the social determinants of health.

“In 2020, the Blue Zones Project of Sharecare employees made additional efforts to reach underserved populations in the Naples area to ensure that the survey data collected reflects the experience of all local residents.

“While the rankings provide information about the potential for improvement in the social determinants of health, the placement of Naples in the top quintile of US metropolises underscores the influence of local culture on the well-being of the community.

“In terms of overall resilience the US demonstrated in 2020, this is in line with other research published last year, as well as previous research on how communities congregate in difficult situations of those who are not infected with the virus their current state may be more positive than normal. ‘”

Q: There is also the mantra in this region of not becoming another Miami, but it ranks higher there, along with other densely populated subway residents who fled to this part of the country and other southern climes early in the pandemic are. Are there any more perspectives? I hear that in at least some cases, people are going back. What role, if any, does southern anti-vax sentiment play in the results?

A: “An additional sharecare analysis – released in late July – found that eight of the top ten states for general community welfare in 2020 were among those states that exceeded the 70 percent mark for adult vaccinations. Meanwhile, six of the worst-rated states – Mississippi, Arkansas, West Virginia, Alabama, Louisiana, and Tennessee – had the lowest percentage of residents who received at least one COVID vaccination at the time.

“With regard to Miami, it should be noted that the differences are small. They are very close together in the ranking and landed in the top 20 metropolitan areas in 2020.”

Q: The villages appear as another fascinating element. Above or near it in some categories but very low on health care access, which left it at 265th. What’s going on there?

A: “The Villages is a strong performer when it comes to key elements of wellbeing. When it comes to access to health care, this area looks at the concentration of several key resources that are critical in most US communities – including pediatricians and obstetricians. Given its unique demographics, The Villages has a low concentration of these two professions. “

How did the subways rank in Florida?

39. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach

43. Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island

48. Gainesville

78. North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton

112. Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford

115. Tampa-St. Petersburg clear water

117. Jacksonville

181. Cape Coral-Fort Myers

184. Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin

186. Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville

192. Pensacola Ferry Pass Brent

203. Panama City

206. Port of St. Lucie

223. Tallahassee.

228. Sebastian Vero Beach

243 Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach

244. Punta Gorda

265. The villages

315. Lakeland-Winter Haven

358. Ocala

367. Sebring

375. Homosassa Sources

Top and Bottom 5

1. San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA

2. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA

3. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV

4. Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH

5. Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT

379. McAllen Edinburgh Mission, TX

380. Las Cruces, NM

381. Sumter, SC

382. Farmington, New York

383. Pine Bluff, AR

Source: Sharecare, which runs Blue Zones projects in Southwest Florida, and the Boston University School of Public Health.

Columnist Phil Fernandez (pfernandez@gannett.com) writes for the Naples Daily News In the Know as part of the USA TODAY NETWORK. Support democracy and subscribe to a newspaper.

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