REVEALED: The Healthiest Cities In The U.S. 2022 DATA
With the New Year, many people will have resolutions to be healthier and take steps to be their best selves. However, this can be particularly difficult if you live in a city, or even a state, that is unhealthy. This can be because of its air quality, available pharmacies, life expectancy, and many other things.
To help you find out where you should be if you want to be healthy, we’ve done all the research for you. Here, we will be going through the most and least healthy cities in the U.S., so you know where you stand. This information could be helpful to anyone who is thinking of moving to a different city for whatever reason – or simply if you’re curious!
Which U.S. Cities Are The Healthiest?
Determining which cities are the healthiest is based on a number of factors, which we will discuss below. However, it’s important to note that many of these factors are fluid.
Things like air quality will change by the hour for every location. We are simply using the information provided by IQAir at the time of writing this. However, you can access the site here if you would like to track the air quality in your area on a daily basis – something that might be a good idea for those with respiratory issues.
How We Have Determined This
The overall results have been determined using the information gathered on the below areas. When combined and calculated, we will get a total score and a total index, which outlines where each city falls in terms of overall health.
Below are the factors we have considered for this piece:
- Number of healthy establishments
- Air quality
- Number of pharmacies
- Mental wellbeing score
- Personal wellbeing score
- Life expectancy
What We Found
Best and Worst Air Qualities
This information is incredibly useful to know for anyone who deals with respiratory disorders and diseases. As smoke and other pollutants can have a severe impact on quality of life, it’s crucial to consider the overall air quality of the area you live in, for the sake of you and your family.
The cities with the best air quality at the time of writing this piece are as follows:
- Las Vegas – 1
- Tucson – 1
- Albuquerque – 1
- San Diego – 3
- El Paso – 3
The cities with the worst air quality at the time of writing this piece are as follows:
- Omaha – 69
- Chicago – 75
- Houston – 77
- Denver – 78
- Kansas City – 78
**Again, please note that these numbers will vary depending on traffic and various other factors in the area on any given day.
Best Life Expectancy
Want to live a long life? These are the cities with the highest life expectancies based on our research:
- San Francisco – 82.9
- Oakland – 82.9
- San Jose – 82.9
- Long Beach – 82.8
- Los Angeles – 82.8
Overall Healthiest U.S. Cities
The below cities are some great options if you are planning on making some changes in your life. Based on the statistics, you should consider moving to one of these healthy cities:
- Miami – Index Score 1.00 (total score 4.75)
- San Diego – Index Score 0.905 (total score 4.30)
- San Francisco – Index Score 0.868 (total score 4.13)
- Portland – Index Score 0.861 (total score 4.09)
- Tucson – Index Score 0.854 (total score 4.06)
Overall Unhealthiest U.S. Cities
If you want to live your best, healthiest life, you might want to consider avoiding these cities as they scored the lowest in our research.
- Detroit – Index Score 0.608 (total score 2.89)
- Chicago – Index Score 0.606 (total score 2.87)
- San Antonio – Index Score 0.603 (total score 2.87)
- Kansas City – Index Score 0.601 (total score 2.86)
- Fresno – Index Score 0.581 (total score 2.76)
Which States Have the Most Healthy Cities?
Out of the 10 top scoring cities, five of them are located in California. These are San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento, Oakland, and Long Beach. However, the city that takes the no.1 spot for the unhealthiest is also in California – Fresno!
The 10 cities with the lowest scoring spots are scattered all over the country, including the states of Missouri, Texas, Illinois, Michigan, Oklahoma, Colorado, Nebraska, and even Florida. However, Texas does feature twice on this bottom 10 list, so maybe that’s something to consider?
Why You Might Want to Know This
In the spirit of the New Year, many people will want to spend more time focusing on and taking care of their health. This means that anyone who is looking to implement drastic changes in their life by turning a new leaf on their health might be considering moving to a different city!
If you want to try and become your healthiest self, then this data gives you a good idea of where you have a pretty good chance of succeeding. After all, your environment plays a huge factor in your outcomes, so it makes sense to be in a statistically healthy city.
With that being said, living in one of these statistically healthy cities might not be so important, either. You can still live a healthy life in even the most unhealthy cities like Fresno and Kansas City. It might be more difficult because of unavoidable things like air quality or the number of pharmacies. However you can play a key role in the other factors.
A Summary
According to your research, the five healthiest cities in the U.S. are Miami, San Diego, San Francisco, Portland, and Tucson. So, if you want to have access to pharmacies, good air quality, and potentially have better personal and mental wellbeing, consider making the move to one of these cities. It could do you some good.
Sources
Population: World Population Review
Healthy Establishments: TripAdvisor and Yelp
Air Quality: IQAir, Apk Ticket
Pharmacies: Pharmacists and County Office
Mental Wellbeing: Wellbeing Index
Life Expectancy: MoneyGeek