By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

Shelby County’s residents are among the most insured in the state of Alabama, according to a study recently published by a national financial information website.

The Smartasset.com website recently determined the most-insured counties in every state in the nation by studying residents’ levels of insurance coverage in multiple categories.

“Insurance is the ultimate form of forward thinking: small contributions now save a lot of trouble for you and your loved ones in the future,” read the website. “SmartAsset looked at data on the three main types of personal insurance—auto, health and life—to find the most insured places in the U.S. We ranked each city and county in our study based on the population coverage rates across these three forms of insurance; areas with higher rates ranked higher. Finally, we calculated an average ranking, giving equal weight to the three types of insurance.”

Shelby County came in at No. 2 on the list, behind only Cherokee County in northeast Alabama.

In the automobile insurance coverage category, 80.79 percent of Shelby County’s residents are covered, and 91.44 percent of the county’s residents have health insurance coverage. Shelby County’s residents have an average of 108.45 percent life insurance coverage, leading to an “overall coverage index” score of 70.17, which slightly trails Cherokee County’s overall score of 70.36.

Following Cherokee and Shelby counties on the list were Elmore County at No. 3, with an overall coverage score of 69.17, Fayette County at No. 4 with an overall score of 67.76, Autauga County at No. 5 with an overall index of 66.58 and Bibb County at No. 6 with an overall index of 66.09.

Rounding out the website’s top 10 most insured counties in Alabama were St. Clair County at No. 7 with an overall coverage index of 66.07, Colbert County at No. 8 with an overall index of 64.41, Lawrence County at No. 9 with an overall coverage index of 64.38 and Lee County at No. 10 with an overall score of 64.28.

Statewide, 80.40 percent of Alabama’s residents have automobile insurance coverage, and 86.78 percent have health insurance coverage. The state’s residents have an average of 100.14 percent life insurance coverage.

To view the entire list, visit Smartasset.com/life-insurance/how-much-life-insurance-do-i-need#alabama/overall.