With more than 7 in 10 U.S. adults being overweight and health care costs rising, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2024’s Healthiest Cities in America, as well as expert commentary, to show where people are saving and costing themselves the most money. Washington D.C., the nearest of the 180 cities compared, came in fifth in the nation.
Additionally, Montgomery County recently announced that it was recently listed as one of healthiest counties in Maryland and in the United States, according to the annual County Health Rankings (CHR). Factors include low rates of premature death, higher life expectancy than average in Maryland, and higher vaccination rates. No cities in Montgomery County were eligible for the WalletHub list due to the population metric detailed below.
WalletHub compared more than 180 of the largest U.S. cities across 41 key metrics. The data set ranges from the cost of a medical visit to fruit and vegetable consumption to the share of physically active adults.
| Healthiest Cities | Unhealthiest Cities | |||||
| 1. San Francisco, CA | 173. Huntington, WV | |||||
| 2. Honolulu, HI | 174. Detroit, MI | |||||
| 3. Seattle, WA | 175. Corpus Christi, TX | |||||
| 4. San Diego, CA | 176. Fayetteville, NC | |||||
| 5. Washington, DC | 177. Augusta, GA | |||||
| 6. Portland, OR | 178. Shreveport, LA | |||||
| 7. Denver, CO | 179. Columbus, GA | |||||
| 8. Salt Lake City, UT | 180. Laredo, TX | |||||
| 9. Scottsdale, AZ | 181. Gulfport, MS | |||||
| 10. Irvine, CA | 182. Brownsville, TX | |||||
Key Stats
- Washington DC was ranked 7th overall in the “Food” category, for the availability of healthy food items.
- Overland Park, Kansas, has the lowest share of physically unhealthy adults, which is 2.4 times lower than in Augusta, Georgia, the city with the highest.
- Laredo, Texas, has the lowest cost per doctor’s visit, which is 3.1 times less expensive than in Juneau, Alaska, the city with the highest.
- Portland, Maine, has the lowest share of adults eating fruits less than once daily, which is 1.6 times lower than in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the city with the highest.
- Lubbock, Texas, has the lowest average monthly cost for a fitness-club membership, which is 8.8 times less expensive than in New York, the city with the highest.
To view the full report and your city’s rank, please visit:
https://wallethub.com/edu/healthiest-cities/31072