Congratulate yourselves, Seattlites, because Seattle is officially the third healthiest city in the entire United States. According to a new study by Forbes Advisor, Seattle came in the top 3 for healthiest cities in the nation after San Jose, California and Austin, Texas. But we still scored higher than San Diego, California and Denver, Colorado at numbers 4 and 5, respectively.
Seattle’s Healthy Lifestyle
It’s not that surprising to us that we ranked so high in healthy living. After all, we have so many gorgeous public parks perfect for walking, jogging, and biking. We’re blessed with lovely beaches perfect for swimming all around the city. Plus, we’re in such close proximity to many stunning state and national parks with great hiking and biking trails. We have a plethora of fun, healthy outdoor activities to choose from.
Healthy Metrics
In order to determine which cities have the healthiest and least healthy populations, Forbes Advisor compared the 46 most populated cities in the U.S. with available data across eight key metrics. The city population data was taken from the U.S. Census Bureau in 2023, and the data for all metrics comes from The City Health Dashboard in 2021. The following metrics were studied:
- Number of heart disease deaths per 100,000 residents.
- Number of opioid overdose deaths per 100,000 residents.
- Percentage of adults with diabetes.
- Percentage of adults with high blood pressure.
- Percentage of adults who report binge drinking.
- Percentage of adults who report having obesity.
- Percentage of adults who report smoking.
- Percentage of adults who report physical inactivity.
Seattle Scored Very Well
Obviously Seattle scored well on these metrics with an overall score of 11.49 out of 100. Seattle is among the healthiest cities in the U.S. because we have the lowest rates in the whole country of the following:
- Lowest percentage of adults with diabetes (6.2%)
- Lowest percentage of adults who report smoking (8.7%)
- Lowest percentage of adults who report being physically inactive (13.2%)
Seattle also stands out with the following percentages:
- Second-lowest percentage of adults with high blood pressure (22.6%)
- Fourth-lowest number of heart disease deaths per 100,000 residents (150.4)
- Fifth-lowest percentage of adults who report having obesity (23.6%)
Take pride in your health, Seattlites, and continue to care for yourselves even as we enter this busy (and delicious) holiday season. Now we have a healthy reputation to uphold!
You can read more about the study on the healthiest cities in the country here.