Health Insurance

The Most Health-conscious Cities in America

Updated Jan 6, 2017

Whether for longevity or vanity, the importance of being healthy has moved to the forefront of American culture. Rising healthcare costs, for one, make taking proactive steps to better your health that much more important.

joggers near a lake Source: Getty Images

Whether for longevity or vanity, the importance of being healthy has moved to the forefront of American culture. Rising health care costs, for one, make taking proactive steps to better your health that much more important.

Though numerous studies have been conducted to show which cities in the U.S. have the healthiest residents, these studies fail to address how well those cities are set up to assist and accommodate residents in starting or continuing to have healthy lifestyles.

Though the choice to live a healthy lifestyle is personal, cities, governments and nonprofit organizations can play vital roles in supporting or discouraging a person’s overall health and well-being. In this study, we attempted to identify the cities best and worst equipped for healthy lifestyles. (Data limitations forced us to restrict our ranking to 98 population centers, with western cities somewhat overrepresented and smaller cities, especially in the east, underrepresented.)

Before we get to our top five and full rankings below, here are three quick takeaways from our findings:

The West stood out. Even acknowledging the overrepresentation of western cities in our grouping, the West as a whole ranked very well. Nine of the top 10 overall ranked cities are located in the western part of the U.S.
Colorado conquers. Colorado had three cities in the top 20 overall.
The Midwest falls down on food. Twenty-two of the 24 worst-ranked cities for health food proximity were all in the Midwest.

The most health-conscious cities
All of the best
The top (and bottom) five cities for...
Amenities
Access to healthy food
Residents’ health
Environmental factors
Experts’ take
Methodology

The most health-conscious cities

When determining the overall ranking of these cities, we gave the greatest weight to per-capita access to the amenities that would help residents to be active. The factors of next importance were the quality, access and affordability of healthy-food options available to residents, followed by environmental factors, including air and drinking-water quality. We also looked at the current health and habits of the city’s residents.

1. Portland, OR

Amenities: 19
Access to healthy food: 6

Residents' health: 6
Environmental factors: 19

2. Washington, D.C.

Amenities: 16
Access to healthy food: 14

Residents' health: 4
Environmental factors: 41

3. Colorado Springs, CO

Amenities: 47
Access to healthy food: 13

Residents' health: 2
Environmental factors: 6

4. Sacramento, CA

Amenities: 17
Access to healthy food: 16

Residents' health: 17
Environmental factors: 43

5. Irvine, CA

Amenities: 3
Access to healthy food: 3

Residents' health: 12
Environmental factors: 91

All of the best

The five above were tops, but 93 other cities were also considered. Where did yours rank?

Rank	City	State	Ammenities	Food & Access	Residents	Environmental 1	Portland	OR	19	6	6	19 2	Washington	DC	16	14	4	41 3	Colorado Springs	CO	47	13	2	6 4	Sacramento	CA	17	16	17	43 5	Irvine	CA	3	3	12	91 6	San Diego	CA	25	9	18	48 7	Seattle	WA	15	34	23	29 8	Denver	CO	21	23	3	60 9	Tucson	AZ	41	26	37	3 10	Chula Vista	CA	46	8	9	47 11	Oakland	CA	44	22	15	25 12	Buffalo	NY	34	1	59	44 13	Orlando	FL	27	40	50	5 14	San Francisco	CA	51	15	19	26 15	Norfolk	VA	9	67	45	9 16	San Jose	CA	42	17	20	46 17	St. Petersburg	FL	8	39	51	50 18	Tampa	FL	11	37	52	49 19	Aurora	CO	45	20	1	59 20	Virginia Beach	VA	13	68	46	10 21	Jacksonville	FL	26	53	48	14 22	Corpus Christi	TX	36	21	78	27 23	Cincinnati	OH	2	46	72	55 24	Boston	MA	38	70	5	7 25	Minneapolis	MN	1	96	29	17 26	Madison	WI	22	73	54	2 27	Reno	NV	55	43	28	13 28	Boise	ID	29	71	38	12 29	Long Beach	CA	49	10	13	88 30	Pittsburgh	PA	6	56	67	54 31	Atlanta	GA	12	44	56	73 32	St. Paul	MN	14	92	30	18 33	Raleigh	NC	10	77	65	22 34	Arlington	VA	4	83	43	42 35	Fremont	CA	86	19	10	24 36	Milwaukee	WI	23	65	55	32 37	Albuquerque	NM	64	41	41	8 38	Durham	NC	35	62	63	11 39	Riverside	CA	57	7	16	96 40	Henderson	NV	32	51	25	68 41	Baltimore	MD	28	61	42	53 42	Stockton	CA	66	5	22	86 43	Omaha	NE	18	87	58	21 44	New York	NY	48	30	60	66 45	Anaheim	CA	83	2	7	90 46	Bakersfield	CA	76	12	8	87 47	St. Louis	MO	24	76	69	38 48	Greensboro	NC	43	72	64	15 49	Detroit	MI	37	31	68	85 50	Glendale	AZ	40	48	33	81 51	Scottsdale	AZ	30	57	36	84 52	Chesapeake	VA	39	66	44	50 53	Austin	TX	71	27	77	28 54	Santa Ana	CA	80	4	21	92 55	Los Angeles	CA	81	11	14	89 56	Plano	TX	31	59	87	50 57	Cleveland	OH	5	82	73	72 58	Chicago	IL	7	94	53	67 59	Chandler	AZ	56	45	31	79 60	Columbus	OH	69	33	74	51 61	Lincoln	NE	54	97	57	1 62	Anchorage	AK	68	98	24	4 63	Dallas	TX	59	35	79	74 64	Hialeah	FL	58	79	47	34 65	Lexington/Fayette	KY	50	85	89	16 66	Philadelphia	PA	33	86	66	62 67	Miami	FL	61	80	49	35 68	Fresno	CA	97	18	11	94 69	Garland	TX	62	36	82	75 70	Winston-Salem	NC	53	69	61	57 71	Baton Rouge	LA	20	90	95	58 72	Gilbert	AZ	72	47	32	80 73	San Antonio	TX	85	24	88	52 74	Mesa	AZ	70	49	34	82 75	Las Vegas	NV	77	55	26	69 76	Irving	TX	65	38	84	76 77	Fort Worth	TX	75	28	81	78 78	Kansas City	KS	60	81	70	37 79	Houston	TX	74	25	83	95 80	Jersey City	NJ	98	42	39	65 81	Fort Wayne	IN	73	75	93	20 82	Phoenix	AZ	82	52	35	83 83	Lubbock	TX	78	29	86	93 84	North Las Vegas	NV	92	58	27	70 85	Arlington	TX	91	32	76	77 86	Nashville/Davidson	TN	63	88	92	30 87	Tulsa	OK	52	93	98	39 88	El Paso	TX	84	50	80	63 89	Toledo	OH	95	64	75	31 90	Wichita	KS	90	74	71	33 91	Laredo	TX	96	54	85	45 92	Memphis	TN	67	89	91	40 93	Charlotte/Mecklenburg	NC	88	60	62	71 94	Newark	NJ	93	78	40	64 95	New Orleans	LA	87	91	96	23 96	Louisville	KY	79	84	90	56 97	Indianapolis	IN	94	63	94	61 98	Oklahoma City	OK	89	95	97	36

The top (and bottom) five cities for…

In this space, we look at the best and worst cities for healthy living per their rankings in our four categories of consequence.

Amenities

You can always choose to work out at home with no fitness equipment at your disposal, but having access to proper facilities can go a long way in helping you on your fitness and health journey. We looked at eight fitness-related amenities in each city, including each city’s number of gyms, sporting goods stores, recreation centers, baseball diamonds, basketball hoops, tennis courts, park spending and playgrounds.

Rank	City	State
1	Minneapolis	MN
2	Cincinnati	OH
3	Irvine	CA
4	Arlington	VA
5	Cleveland	OH

Rank	City	State
98	Jersey City	NJ
97	Fresno	CA
96	Laredo	TX
95	Toledo	OH
94	Indianapolis	IN

Access to healthy food

Maintaining a proper diet comprising quality food is extremely important in living a healthy lifestyle. As important as this is, some cities’ residents have significantly less access to healthy food options. We reviewed organic crop prevalence and the proximity of residents to health food options. We also looked at the grocery cost of living for each city as well as which cities allowed those residents on government assistance programs to access higher quality, healthy food options.

Rank	City	State
1	Buffalo	NY
2	Anaheim	CA
3	Irvine	CA
4	Santa Ana	CA
5	Stockton	CA

Rank	City	State
98	Anchorage	AK
97	Lincoln	NE
96	Minneapolis	MN
95	Oklahoma City	OK
94	Chicago	IL

Residents’ health

Though your choice to be healthy is ultimately a personal decision independent of your neighbors, the habits and health of those around you will still have an effect on your health. The data points for this section were all state-based, but they still help to paint an accurate picture of the cities studied.

Rank	City	State
1	Aurora	CO
2	Colorado Springs	CO
3	Denver	CO
4	Washington	DC
5	Boston	MA

Rank	City	State
98	Tulsa	OK
97	Oklahoma City	OK
96	New Orleans	LA
95	Baton Rouge	LA
94	Indianapolis	IN

Environmental factors

No matter how many healthy choices you make, you are still going to be subjected to your environment and the risk factors it brings to the table. Drinking water and air quality were assessed, as both have big effects on residents’ health. That said, there are ways to overcome poor drinking water quality (such as with filters or bottled water) and poor air quality (for example, with air filters and by monitoring air quality forecasts).

The number of conservation organizations, parkland area and farmer’s markets per 100,000 residents was also assessed, as these factors help give a more rounded view of a city’s overall environmental health.

Rank	City	State
1	Lincoln	NE
2	Madison	WI
3	Tucson	AZ
4	Anchorage	AK
5	Orlando	FL

Rank	City	State
96	Riverside	CA
95	Houston	TX
94	Fresno	CA
93	Lubbock	TX
92	Santa Ana	CA

Experts’ Take

To vary our coverage of the best cities for healthy living, we put the data aside and sought out experts for answers to questions of concern.

Casey Milliken

Milliken is the general manager of Syndicate MMA in Las Vegas, NV

What makes a great city for living healthfully?

The most important factor a city can offer in regards to public health is education in the classroom at a young age. Poor eating habits are learned in adolescence, and it is exponentially harder to break these habits the older we get. It is vitally important that kids learn what foods to eat, how often they should eat, what times they should eat and also how to shop for and prepare their own food. Equipped with these tools, a person can maintain a healthy lifestyle and even save money. It’s a win-win!

Matthew J. Seymour

Seymour is the chief sales officer of CleverTraining.com in Indian Rocks Beach, Fl

What makes a great city for living healthfully?

I think that it is important for a city to offer free, safe and easily accessible running and cycling trails for their residents to use. Exercising in nature can be relaxing and help to create healthy habits.

Joe Stevens

Stevens is the CEO of goSTATZm a cloud-based fitness trainer software in Katy, TX

What makes a great city for living healthfully?

The access of healthy food options is a critical factor to helping a person be healthier. Many areas in the U.S., particularly lower-income urban areas could have more healthy options other than fast food, high fat, lower quality options. Too many residents are faced with the painful decision of eating affordable versus eating healthy, due to the lack of options available in their neighborhoods.

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Methodology

We analyzed 98 cities across the U.S., using 17 factors from seven different data sources. Attempts were made to include other cities, but insufficient data was available to do so. Some of the data we collected was state-specific only; while accurate, such data was given less weight in our final calculations.

There were also rare instances when data for a particular data point in a city was not available. If this was simply because of underreporting, a neutral value was applied to the city. If this was because the city fell below the listing because of lack of quality or amenities, the lowest ranking value was applied to the city.

Our final ranking of cities is a combination of all 17 factors grouped into four categories: fitness and recreation amenities, access to healthy food, environmental factors and current residents’ health habits.

The most weight (35%) was given to fitness and recreation amenities as we felt it had the most significant and broadest implications. Slightly less weight (30%) was given to healthy food access as we felt these amenities were less prevalent in some areas. A lower weight still (20%) was given to environmental factors, since we judged these to have a smaller impact on one’s ability to be healthy. The lowest weighting (15%) was given to current residents’ health habits, since choosing to be healthy is ultimately an individual choice.

Below we break down each data point in each category and provide the source of the data.

Fitness and recreation amenities (35%)

Gyms per 10,000 residents — Time Magazine Study (2010)
Number of sporting goods stores — U.S. Census Bureau (2012)
Recreation centers per 20,000 residents — The Trust for Public Land (2015)
Ball diamonds per 10,000 residents — The Trust for Public Land (2015)
Basketball hoops 10,000 residents — The Trust for Public Land (2015)
Playgrounds per 10,000 residents — The Trust for Public Land (2015)
Tennis courts per 10,000 residents — The Trust for Public Land (2015)
Parkland spending per resident — The Trust for Public Land (2015)

Health food and availability (30%)

Organic crop acreage — U.S. Department of Agriculture (2013)
Grocery cost of living — Cost of Living Index (2010)
Percentage of census tracts with health food in close proximity — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2014)
Percentage of farmers markets that accept SNAP benefits — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2012)
Percentage of farmers markets that accept WIC benefits — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2012)

Natural and environmental factors (20%)

Our environmental factors rating was calculated using a ranking from a previous ValuePenguin study on the country’s greenest cities. The data used in that study included a combination of six data points from five sources.

Most environmentally friendly cities — ValuePenguin (2016)

Current residents’ health habits (15%)

Adults meeting exercise standards — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2013)
Adults engaging in no physical activity — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2014)
Percentage of adults age 18 years and older who are obese — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2014)

Editorial note: The content of this article is based on the author’s opinions and recommendations alone. It has not been previewed, commissioned or otherwise endorsed by any of our network partners.