Girth of a Nation: The Top 10 Healthiest Cities
An estimated one in three adults living in the U.S. are overweight or obese. How did this come to be? It's probably due to the cumulative effect of many factors (eg. poor diet, inactivity, lack of sleep, stress), rather than one, isolated problem.
So which states are helping or hurting our efforts to reduce the girth of our nation?
Before continuing, it's only fair to point out that weight-related health was not the only criteria for the CDC's city-by-city report. That said, because the data were based on an analysis of self-report studies, being overweight is likely a reason for a person to consider and list themselves as "unhealthy."
Anyway, enough of my prattle. Time for the $64,000 question: Which state was deemed least healthy, and which was deemed healthiest? The answer:
Least Healthy: Huntington, West Virginia
Healthiest: Lincoln, Nebraska
Interested to see if your city landed in the list of top ten healthiest? Take a gander below to find out.
1 - Lincoln, NE Metropolitan Statistical Area
2 - Fargo, ND-MN Metropolitan Statistical Area
3 - Boulder, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area
4 - Burlington-South Burlington, VT Metropolitan Statistical Area
5 - Ogden-Clearfield, UT Metropolitan Statistical Area
6 - Provo-Orem, UT Metropolitan Statistical Area
7 - Concord, NH Micropolitan Statistical Area
8 - Sioux Falls, SD Metropolitan Statistical Area
9 - Barre, VT Micropolitan Statistical Area
10 - Cambridge-Newton-Framingham, MA Metropolitan Division
For a look at the complete list of 100 U.S. cities, featured from healthiest to least healthy, follow this link to the WebMD website.
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Well, my city's not on there, but it's probably somewhere in the middle. I'm sure there were a lot of factors involved in this study: # of smokers, how many people have health insurance, air pollution, number of fast food restaurants per capita, how exercise-friendly it is, etc. I've been to Boulder and it's definitely set up a lot better for walking/biking around than Oshkosh, WI is. I'm sure there is also less air pollution there and probably fewer smokers.
I do know that WI has a lot of overweight people though...I see them all the time. Probably half the adults in our city are overweight; maybe more. I attribute that to the fact that most people around here just don't really eat right: lots of beer, cheese curds, brats, etc. add up and pack on the pounds.
ReplyNow I'd really be interested in having them extend the research to see what factors the top cities have in common because I do believe that the environment we live in can make an enormous difference.
Replya bunch of cold places that I'd not care to live in. probably means that your metabolism has to burn hotter just to keep you warm in such places.
ReplyNice. My city Provo is right there at #6. Looks like Utah is doing pretty well with Ogden at #5 too.
ReplyI live in Newton, Massachusetts (#10) and I can tell you that most people earn good livings, have multiple degrees and are super health conscious.
The greater Boston area has about 70 colleges and universities, many of the nations top medical facilities, and a significant amount of wealth.
There are also a lot of stressed out type A people that obsess about everything they eat and workout like maniacs. And since public transportation is good a lot of people walk all over.
It's so different compared to my home town of New Orleans where everything is deep fried and not many people go to the gym. In fact the top 5 gym chains in the US, don't have a single location in Louisiana, Mississippi, or Alabama.
When I go down south to visit my eating and exercise habits change dramatically for that week or so.
When they make the list for unhealthiest or fattest cities it's always the deep south that leads the way.
NorthEast and Deep South are so different.
Replyyay # 10!
ReplyLINCOLN?!! You gotta be kidding me. I find that really hard to believe. You'll find as many unhealthy habits there as anywhere else. Some extremely unhealthy habits. Puts this study in the questionable category for me, that's for sure.
ReplyI am really surprised that there aren't any cities from the west coast, I feel like places in OR and WA are very fit and healthy. This is an awesome top ten list. You should post this on my buddy's site http://www.toptentopten.com/.
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