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Healthiest and least healthy cities: where does your city rank?
Memphis residents are the city dwellers with the least chances of accessing quality healthcare, says BetterDoctor.com.
The Tennessee city landed at the bottom of a recent ranking of healthy cities in America, according to the BetterDoctor.com Healthy Cities Index. Memphis earned the ignoble distinction because of its low physical fitness rates and small pool of quality doctors.
The following cities also did not fare very well by BetterDoctor.com’s standards: Oklahoma City, Okla.; Louisville, Ky.; San Antonio, Texas; and Nashville.
The site analyzed three kinds of data: population statistics about physical fitness, percentage of doctors that are highly rated based on its own algorithm and the percentage of residents with health insurance coverage. Cities were ranked on a 100-point scale.
Based on that data, Boston emerged as the healthiest city in the country. Boston may be known for its walkability and high number of pedestrian-commuters, but it was the city’s high percentage of residents with health insurance coverage (95.6 percent) that helped Boston best Minneapolis, Minn., and the District of Columbia. Boston also has 5.97 doctors per residents – an impressive ratio compared to the other cities.
Minneapolis, which was a close second to Boston, received a favorable ranking because of its high exercise rate and strong doctor-to-resident ratio (4.44).
A complete listing, along with details about a city’s percentage of health insurance coverage and availability of doctors, can be found at BetterDoctor.com’s site.
Here are the 20 healthiest cities, according to BetterDoctor.com:
1. Boston, Mass. (74.5)
2. Minneapolis, Minn. (73.6)
3. Washington, D.C. (72.6)
4. San Francisco (66.4)
5. Hartford, Conn. (62.7)
6. Pittsburgh (60.1)
7. San Jose, Calif. (58.6)
8. Salt Lake City (58.5)
9. Seattle, Wash. (57.7)
10. Cincinnati (57.6)
11. Portland, Ore. (56.7)
12. Denver (56.6)
13. Sacramento, Calif. (56.6)
14. Atlanta (55.9)
15. San Diego (55.3)
16. Baltimore (55.0)
17. St. Louis (54.7)
18. Austin, Texas (53.9)
19. Raleigh, N.C. (52.7)
20. Providence, R.I. (51.3)
21. Buffalo, N.Y. (50.3)
22. Richmond, Va. (48.6)
23. Chicago (48.4)
24. New York (47.7)
25. Philadelphia (44.0)
The unhealthiest cities, according to BetterDoctor.com:
1. Memphis, Tenn. (15.8)
2. Oklahoma City (24.1)
3. Louisville, Ky. (26.3)
4. San Antonio, Texas (27.3)
5. Nashville, Tenn. (29.0)
6. Indianapolis, IN (29.5)
7. Las Vegas (29.8)
8. New Orleans (30.8)
9. Los Angeles (32.7)
10. Jacksonville, Fla. (34.6)
11. Detroit (34.7)
12. Riverside, Calif. (35.1)
13. Phoenix (35.6)
14. Orlando, Fla. (36.7)
15. Tampa, Fla. (38.2)
16. Miami (38.3)
17. Columbus, Ohio (38.5)
18. Dallas-Fort Worth (38.9)
19. Houston (40.0)
20. Kansas City, Mo. (40.0)
21. Charlotte, N.C. (40.1)
22. Birmingham, Ala. (42.2)
23. Cleveland, Ohio (42.5)
24. Virginia Beach, Va. (42.9)
25. Milwaukee, Wis. (43.4)
