America’s Healthiest Community: Los Alamos County

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. – Nearly 80 years ago, scientists flocked to a remote site in the mountains of northern New Mexico, moving into rapidly built government housing and charged with developing a nuclear weapon to end the Second World War. Officially, the community didn't exist – babies' birth certificates listed "PO Box 1663" in Santa Fe, the mailing address for the entire town.

Today, close to 20,000 people live in Los Alamos County, comprising the once-secret town of the same name and neighboring White Rock, and the area where the atomic bomb was developed is very much on the map. Scientists from around the world come to work at Los Alamos National Laboratory, one of the country's premier nuclear research institutions, and an abundance of outdoor recreation activities has enticed many to put down roots. About 39% of county residents have a master's or other advanced degree, the county's median income level is among the highest in the nation and nearly everyone has health insurance.

These factors have helped distinguish Los Alamos County as America's healthiest community, according to a U.S. News analysis that takes into account economic, educational and environmental factors, as well as other social determinants of health. In total, the third annual Healthiest Communities rankings assess nearly 3,000 counties and county equivalents across 84 metrics that form the foundation of a community's well-being.

"It's a fabulous place to raise kids, it is an active community, and … it's a super safe place," says Amy Regan, an electrical engineer who moved to White Rock with her husband in 1989; they've raised three children here. "If you like big cities, traffic and the headaches that come with that, this isn't a great place to go."

Loving the outdoors is almost a prerequisite to living in Los Alamos County: Most homes are within a few minutes of a trailhead, and the county operates an outdoor ice rink, a golf course and an Olympic-size swimming pool where people can take $5 fitness classes. Regan and her husband have done multiple triathlons and spent a few years on the local ski patrol. Geoffrey Steeves, an Air Force fellow at the lab, says it's not unusual to have a "two-helmet day" – the morning spent skiing near town and in the afternoon, whitewater kayaking.

"Kids get active early," says Clay Moseley, a former professional cyclist who now works for the county and leads the Southwest Nordic Ski Club with his wife, Dina Pesenson, a software engineer. "Here, it's the convenience factor. Everything's a little rough around the edges."

Despite the somewhat remote location, residents say healthy food and quality medical care are readily accessible. Los Alamos High School is among the best in the state. The county operates a free bus service called Atomic City Transit, and residents describe a fairly robust network of social services. The county employs a health specialist, for example, who helps low-income residents apply for Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. There is a high rate of nonprofits per capita, U.S. News Healthiest Communities data shows.

"The reason I love it up here is because it's so not pretentious," says Whitney Spivey, a writer and member of the U.S. National Snowshoe Racing Team who moved to the town of Los Alamos in 2011. "There are very smart people in this town, and a lot of them do have money, and they're driving 10-year-old Subarus and they're living in government housing from the 1950s. And life is good."

Yet this idyllic community is situated in the second-poorest state in the U.S., and the surrounding counties of Santa Fe, Sandoval and Rio Arriba all have higher poverty rates, generally unhealthier populations and shorter life expectancies. These communities are also more ethnically diverse than Los Alamos, which, like other counties that have placed No. 1 in previous U.S. News Healthiest Communities rankings, is predominantly white.

Los Alamos' overall prosperity also can mask the fact that some residents are struggling, says Maura Taylor, executive director of Self Help, Inc., a local nonprofit that provides emergency financial assistance. The county's poverty rate in recent years was 5.3% – about a quarter of the statewide level – but more families are living "closer to the edge," Taylor says. Roughly 55% of the people Self Help typically serves are from Rio Arriba County, while about 18% are from Los Alamos.

"There's mountains on one side (of town) and a highly secure lab on the other, and then cliffs on the other, so there's not really any place to grow," Taylor says. "That means the cost of living is pretty high (and) it's not a forgiving place to have some sort of setback."

The dichotomy between Los Alamos County and the surrounding areas has been laid bare by the coronavirus pandemic. As of Sept. 16, Los Alamos had recorded only 29 coronavirus cases and zero deaths; the three surrounding counties, which are all much larger, ranged from approximately 375 to 1,300 cases each. Los Alamos has seen additional infections among lab workers, though they'd mostly been among people who commute in for work, according to the Los Alamos Reporter.

Taylor notes there are few multigenerational households in Los Alamos, making it easier to socially distance, while in Rio Arriba County, "a lot of intergenerational caretaking goes on, and people are picking up groceries for a whole bunch of people on their street or their grandparents."

"Obviously, everybody's worried about the virus all the time, like they are everywhere, but since we haven't had a really serious hot spot (near Los Alamos), the main thing people are talking about is the economic impact," Taylor says. Her group has seen an uptick in donations from people in Los Alamos during the pandemic.

In the lab, meanwhile, scientists have studied how the coronavirus mutates; they also created a COVID-19 forecasting tool that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has relied on, along with 31 other models, to track the trajectory of the pandemic.

The lab itself is central to life in Los Alamos, where the average commute is 16 minutes. And a recent hiring boom in part to increase nuclear weapons production means there's an urgent demand for housing that the county is now trying to meet; several development projects slated to begin this year are continuing despite the pandemic. With more than half of lab workers living outside of Los Alamos County, other communities in northern New Mexico also are feeling the housing crunch.

"Everyone's fortunes rise and fall with the hiring practices of the lab," says Ryn Herrmann, director of the Los Alamos Chamber of Commerce.

That's been true in Los Alamos and beyond. The federal government has estimated nearly $4 billion could be needed over two decades to clean up hazardous waste in the region related to nuclear weapons production. And in 2016, the Los Alamos History Museum launched the Los Alamos Japan Project to prompt dialogue with counterparts in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, aiming to bridge acknowledgement of the "scientific achievement" of the development of the atomic bomb with recognition of the "personal devastation wrought by those bombs."

While research at the lab still centers on nuclear weapons, with about 75% of the U.S. stockpile designed there, its work also has expanded to issues like space, energy and health. And the area's early draws – its educated population, well-paying jobs and active lifestyles – all have coalesced to make Los Alamos County America's healthiest community.

"All you have to do is walk out your door, and you are inspired," Herrmann says. "I think to this day, it still exists."