California is home to some of the healthiest cities in the US, report says. Here’s why
A city in California landed the top spot on a list of the country’s healthiest cities, according to a new report.
San Francisco ranked first on WalletHub’s list of the healthiest cities in the U.S., which was released Monday.
Rounding out the top five were Seattle, Portland, San Diego and Honolulu.
What makes a healthy city?
The personal finance website assessed the 150 most populous cities in the nation — along with at least two of the most populous in each state — on 44 factors across four categories: health care, food, fitness and green space.
San Francisco’s highest ranking was No. 1 in both the green space and food categories.
The food category looks at factors such as Google searches for “healthy food,” the number of dietitians and nutritionists per capita and share of residents who say they eat healthy, among others. San Francisco residents are some of the best at eating their fruits and veggies; the city has the fifth-lowest percentage of adults who don’t eat their leafy greens, tied with Oakland.
The category also examines the number of healthy restaurants per capita; San Francisco had the fifth most of every city on the list, just behind Los Angeles.
The green space category looks at access to physical activity and recreation as well as a city’s biking and walking score, among other factors.
It also takes into account the number of hiking, walking and running trails per capita — San Francisco has the most walking trails of any city on the list and it tied with Washington, D.C. for most running trails.
The city’s lowest rank was in the fitness category, where it came in at the No. 59 spot. The fitness category examines fitness centers per capita, average cost of a fitness club membership and share of adults who engage in physical activity, among others.
San Francisco was in a three-way tie for the list’s highest average fitness club membership costs.
How did other cities rank?
A few other California cities appeared on WalletHub’s report.
- San Diego 4
- Irvine 8
- Huntington Beach 13
- Fremont 14
- San Jose 21
- Santa Rosa 23
- Los Angeles 29
- Glendale 30
- Santa Clarita 31
- Oakland 33
- Sacramento 34
- Oceanside 38
- Long Beach 40
California had four of the top five lowest premature-death rates; San Jose has the lowest while Anaheim, Santa Ana and Irvine all tied for third-fewest.
Fontana had the fewest healthy restaurants per capita.
Bakersfield had the fifth-fewest dietitians and nutritionists per capita.
Irvine had the third-highest percentage of physically active adults.
Stockton had the fifth-fewest and San Bernadino had the second fewest running trails.
Santa Clarita had the fifth-most walking trails.
This story was originally published February 8, 2021 at 3:46 PM.