The 50 US states ranked from most to least healthy

United Health Foundation

Not all states are created equal when it comes to health. 

To get a better sense of how healthy each state in the US is, for the 28th year in a row, the United Health Foundation has ranked America's states.

Massachusetts made the top of the list as America's healthiest state, while Mississippi was declared the unhealthiest.

Looking at data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Medical Association, and the Census bureau, the rankings took into account everything from obesity and smoking to community and environmental factors, such as child poverty and air pollution, to public policies like immunizations, and health outcomes like cancer deaths and diabetes.

At the same time, the UHF noted some troubling trends: premature death (that is, deaths that occur before an older age) rate and the drug death rate have both been increasing.

Here's are all 50 states, ranked from healthiest to least healthy. 

1. Massachusetts ranked the healthiest state for the first time in the ranking's 28-year history. "Massachusetts’ strengths include the lowest percentage of uninsured at 2.7% of the population, a low prevalence of obesity and a high number of mental health providers," the report said.

2. Hawaii, which held the top spot on the health ranking for five years, has a low prevalence of obesity and smoking, along with the second lowest percentage of people who are uninsured.

3. Vermont has a low uninsured population, and a low prevalence of diabetes. In the last five years, the drug overdose death rates in the state have increased by 50%.