Is your city healthy or unhealthy?
Have you ever really thought about where you live? Think about where you live for a moment. Think about the air quality or the built environment (i.e. parks and bike paths)? Are the people, specificlaly the women, generally happy? Are there a lot of fast food restaurants? Do people generally walk or do they drive? Just a few things to ponder as we think about being healthy and living healthy. Are we living in healthy conditions and if not what can we do to ensure we take care of ourselves? SELF magazine looked at 100 of the largest U.S. metro areas to find out which were healthy places for women to live. I thought I would share their results with you. Listed are the top five cities for each category.
Healthiest: San Francisco, CA was #1. Runners up: Nassau-Suffolk counties, NY; San Jose, CA; Honolulu, HI; and Burlington, VT.
Unhealthiest: Gary, IN was #1. Runners up: Detroit, MI; Cinncinnati, OH; Oklahoma City, OK; and Columbus, OH.
Fittest: Orange County, CA was #1. Runners up: San Francisco, CA; Honolulu, HI; Seattle, WA; and Orlando, FL.
Least Fit: Huntington, WV/Ashland,KY were tied for #1. Runners up: McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX; Birmingham, AL; Columbus, OH; and Jackson, MS.
Healthiest Eaters: San Jose, CA was #1. Runners up: San Francisco, CA; Orange County, CA; Oakland, CA; and Ventura, CA.
Unhealthiest Eaters: Huntington, WV/Ashland, KY were tied for #1. Runners up: Tulsa, OK; Jackson, MS; Cleveland, OH; and Birmingham, AL.
Best Environment: Tuscon, AZ was #1. Runners up: Boise City, ID; Fargo, ND/Moorehead, MN; San Francisco, CA; and Cheyenne, WY.
Worst Environment: Philadelphia, PA was #1. Runners up: Gary, IN; Houston, TX; Newark, NJ; and Bergen-Passaic counties, NJ.
Cleanest Air: Cheyenne, WY was #1. Runners up: Billings, MT; Sioux Falls, SD; Honolulu, HI; and Anchorage, AK.
Worst Air: Los Angeles, CA was #1. Runners up: Houston, TX; Bakersfield, CA; Riverside-San Bernardino, CA; and Fresno, CA.
Happiest: Minneapolis, MN was #1. Runners up: Nashville, TN; Fargo, ND/Moorhead, MN; Des Moines, IA; and Washington, DC.
Unhappiest: Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA was #1. Runners up: Bakersfield, CA; Gary, IN; Stockton-Lodi, CA and Riverside-San Bernardino, CA.
Least Smoky: Salt Lake City-Ogden, UT was #1. Runners up: San Jose, CA; McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX; Orange County, CA and Los Angeles, CA.
Smokiest: Las Vegas, NV was #1. Runners up: Gary, IN; Dayton, OH; Akron, OH; and Louisville, KY.
If you want to see this report in its entirety go to MSNBC and do a search for America’s Healthiest Cities for Women. I am sorry that this post is getting long, but as someone who looks at studies and data often for work, I think it is important to note that this is only a sample of women in these 100 cities. It is not necessarily reflective of the entire community of women in the U.S. but rather gives a snapshot of what healthy and unhealthy looks like in general based on certain criteria. So if you live in one of the unhealthier cities don’t be too upset by these results. Rather, look at what YOU can do to be healthy in your city. I am interested in what you think about these results and if you think they are accurate for your city. Comments please!
