The County Health Rankings was recently released and for California, the figures were very telling on the living conditions in the different counties.

The study measured the overall health of the counties throughout the entire United States including different factors such as graduation rates, access to healthy food, obesity, smoking rates and teenage births.

Marin, San Francisco Shine in Rankings

Maintaining its reputation as the standard in California, Marin topped the list as the healthiest county in the state for the seventh straight year. The County Health Rankings placed Marin with the highest in life expectancy as well as having an impressive number of adults with a good body weight and a low rate of violent crime and unemployment.

However, the officials were quick to say that it's important to keep working for better conditions in the county. Dr. Grant Colfax, Director of Marin County Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), explained that the County Health Rankings was also able to illustrate Marin's areas of improvement.

"Community investments such as reserving land for open space and social norms around healthy eating and staying active have helped Marin maintain our ranking," Colfax pointed out. "However, the rankings also reflect major disparities across Marin and help us know where we need to prioritize our work. For example, we need to focus on increasing equity in health care coverage, access to health food, early childhood education, and job training so everyone has an opportunity to optimize his or her health."

Meanwhile, major city San Francisco also ranked well in both categories of Health Outcomes and Health Factors hitting 10th place and fifth respectively. On the other hand, Los Angeles performed in a less stellar way, hitting the 25th place in the first category and 36th in the next.

California's 'Hidden Poor'

A different study from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research revealed the health struggles of a specific demographic in California. The research, "Hidden Health Problems Among California's Hidden Poor," showed that one in four California residents who are 65 or older and live alone or with only one partner was confirmed to be in the limbo of unofficial poverty in 2013.

The research revealed that despite this group's increasing health issues and less access to care, they are often unable to afford assistance and are unqualified for public programs.

The Latino, African-American and Asian elderly are facing a significantly more difficult time as well.