Santa Barbara County ranked in the upper third of California counties in a national health assessment, but declined somewhat from the previous year, according to information released today by the county Public Health Department.

All but two of California’s counties were ranked in the survey, conducted by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. Santa Barbara County ranked 19th in health outcomes and 15th in health factors. The county’s 2011 rankings were 18th and 13th, respectively.

“The rankings are intended to be a starting point for our community assess and address health issues,” said Dr. Takashi Wada, director of public health. “We want to look at where Santa Barbara County excels and strengthen those areas. We also want to identify areas needing improvement where we can work with community partners to make policy changes and improve health outcomes across the county.”

In the area of health outcomes, Santa Barbara County ranked 15th out of 56 for mortality and 31st for morbidity (days of poor physical or mental health and low birth weight).

For health factors, Santa Barbara was eighth out of 56 for health behaviors, which include smoking, drinking, obesity, physical inactivity, vehicle crashes, STDs and teen birth rates.

The county ranked 12th out of 56 for clinical care, 19th out of 56 for social and economic factors, and 23 out of 56 for physical environment.

Click here for the results.

— Noozhawk executive editor Tom Bolton can be reached at tbolton@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.