Granted in any data there will be some scores above and some scores below the measure of central tendency, but with some expected noise, there is a definite geographic thing going on in this dataset.
Clearly there are many socio-economic issues that are correlates to health...but the overall geographic impression is not good.
http://aolsvc.health.webmd.aol.com/content/article/76/90326.htm?DEST=WebMD&contentSRC=aomain What's the State of Your State's Health?
1. Minnesota, New Hampshire Rated Healthiest, Mississippi Ranks at Bottom
By Jennifer Warner WebMD Medical News
Each state was assigned a health score based on many different criteria.
1. 2003 Overall Health Score Rankings:
Rank State Score
1 Minnesota 24.3
1 New Hampshire 24.3
3 Utah 19.5
4 Vermont 19.0
5 Massachusetts 16.3
6 Connecticut 14.7
7 Iowa 14.6
8 Maine 13.8
9 Colorado 13.7
10 Hawaii 13.4
11 Washington 12.9
12 North Dakota 12.5
13 Rhode Island 12.1
14 Wisconsin 11.7
15 South Dakota 11.5
16 Nebraska 10.1
17 Idaho 9.0
18 New Jersey 8.9
19 Oregon 8.8
20 Kansas 8.3
21 Virginia 6.9
22 California 5.7
23 Wyoming 5.2
24 Pennsylvania 4.1
25 Montana 2.8
26 Ohio 2.2
27 Indiana 1.9
28 Michigan 1.8
29 Maryland 0.8
30 Illinois 0.4
31 New York -0.5
32 Arizona -2.1
33 Missouri -2.7
34 Delaware -3.4
35 Texas -3.8
36 Nevada -4.6
36 North Carolina -4.6
38 Alaska -5.5
39 Kentucky -7.0
40 New Mexico -7.5
41 Georgia -7.6
42 Florida -10.8
43 Alabama -11.1
44 West Virginia -11.3
45 Oklahoma -12.1
46 Tennessee -13.2
47 Arkansas -14.2
48 South Carolina -15.5
49 Louisiana -19.5
50 Mississippi -22.0