Healthy cities.
When you are in one, you just know you are. The city is alive, vibrant, active, and clean.
There are healthy restaurant options and gyms around every corner. There are abundant bike paths and jogging routes.
People seem happy and content with their lives.
In 2008, Best Health Magazine ranked Canada’s Top 20 Healthiest metropolitan cities:
1. Vancouver
2. Victoria
3. Calgary
4. Edmonton
5. Ottawa
6. Quebec
7. Halifax
8. Saskatoon
9. Summerside
10. Toronto
11. Winnipeg
12. Montreal
13. Charlottetown
14. Brandon
15. Corner Brook
16. St. John’s
17. Regina
18. Moncton
19. Saint John
20. Lunenburg
The cities were scored on various criteria such as alcohol use, air quality, amount of fruits and vegetables eaten, life expectancy, stress, # overweight, etc. You can read all the stats here.
Canadians: Do you live in or near one of the healthiest cities? Do you agree with the study results? Why or why not? Should your city be on that list? Or do you think you live in an unhealthy city?
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The AARP Magazine, also selected the United State’s Top 10 healthiest cities in 2008:
1. Ann Arbor, Michigan
2. Honolulu, Hawaii
3. Madison, Wisconsin
4. Santa Fe, New Mexico
5. Fargo, North Dakota
6. Boulder, Colorado
7. Charlottesville, Virginia
8. Minneapolis, St. Paul, Bloomington, Minnesota
9. San Fran, California
10. Naples, Florida
They also listed 9 cities that were noteworthy…
11. Sioux Falls, South Dakota
12. Boston, Cambridge, Quincy, Massachusetts
13. St Cloud, Minnesota
14. Bridgeport, Stamford, Norwalk, Connecticut
15. Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, California
16. Burlington, Vermont
17. Provo-orem, Utah
18. Portland, Maine
19. Fort Collins, Loveland, Colorado
I thought this chart was interesting to read:
US Readers: Do you live in a healthy city? Is your city healthy but not listed? Or do you think you have an unhealthy city? What needs to change?
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For those of you outside of US and Canada, you can chime in on your city too!
I hope to do a post on the WORLD’s Healthiest cities too!
I just moved back to Ontario after living in Victoria (#2!!) for a few years. I have to say, the difference is ASTOUNDING. Victoria just bursts with vitality, and health and wellness are part of the city’s culture. Even the grocery stores were superior, carrying huge amounts of organic foods with a real focus on local goods, yet all at pretty affordable prices. Standing in the checkout line, I was amazed at how colourful and healthful everyone’s goods were. Where I live now, all I see at the check out is foil bags and cardboard boxes of processed junk, maybe some iceberg lettuce thrown in, and the only place to buy “health” food is at the overpriced health store on the other side of town. I also couldn’t believe how fit everyone looked – overweight and obese people were few and far between (excluding the tourists!). I think the weather had a lot to do with it (nice allllll year round), as well as BC’s liberal attitudes that put such emphasis on quality of life. Clean air; beautiful scenery; no winter(!); health-oriented, socially & environmentally-conscious population; easy access to affordable healthy food and hundreds of healthy dining out options; hugely popular yoga studios, gyms, etc, as well as plenty of space to play outside…Wow, why did I ever leave??? In my opinion, Victoria should outrank Vancouver. And it definitely outranks my current city of residence (near-ish Toronto) which is sometimes appalling in comparison…
bridgeport, ct is noteable? my hometown is like 20 minutes form there and let’s just say, that is shocking to me!
i live in nyc, and i think it’s definitely one of the healthier cities in terms of healthy food and exercise prevalence. in terms of being green and clean – it’s got a loooooong way to go.
i’m in the 8th healthiest city! whooo saskatoon!
I’m shocked that Edmonton is so high on the list!
I have ex-step family that lives near Madison, WI! They actually live in a small town right outside of it. However they don’t necessarily fall in those statistics …. Haha!
I however was born and raised in Missouri and I live in Omaha, NE now and while Missouri seemed average, Nebraska is fat fat fat!!!! I wish we had more healthy shops around here. I would kill for a Froyo type place of some sort with all the fresh berries … the closest we have is TCBY…….. ARGH!
-Muffy
Oh how funny! The town where I am now (going to school) is actually listed on there under the health care section! I never see my actual town listed (just nearby large cities – like San Fran). But I’m currently in San Luis Obispo..funny that it’s actually listed. It’s a relatively small town with a population of about 40,000!
I live in honolulu, hi!! very cool that my city is listed! Thats very interesting.. I wonder what they base their ratings on..
I live excatly between Burlington, VT and Boston, MA. So I guess I’m covered!!! Not to mention I work for Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Home of the first medical school!!!
Woo woo…Ann Arbor is great…I live 20 minutes away in a bedroom community of A2. That town is expensive to live IN, and a large college town. They are not kidding about the healthy potential… if you want to take advantage… U of M helps to influence, as do a million health food stores (two WFd’s and a TJ’s + others) and a beautiful town with lots to do. Since it was AARP selecting i am sure the HUGE UM hospital went into their equation also… Go BLUE!…even though i am technically a SPARTAN..go MSU ;-)
I live in Greenwood Indiana. Indiana itself i’m sure is very unhealthy. There are little towns here and there though that you can tell are getting on the health bandwagon and that makes me happy.
AS IF Saint John is healthy city!!! Only if breathing in oil refinery fumes is good for your health! Ewewewew. Maybe it’s just because it has a huge park that Irving built? I’m from Moncton, and it’s got some great things, but the river there will never compare to the river in Fredericton. I think Freddy could give the other two NB cities a run for their money ;)
I wish my city was listed as healthy b/c I believe Raleigh, NC is very healthy! Even though it is in the south and full of deep fried goodness, Raleigh is starting to open up to more organic and fresher options! AND lots of walking trails all over the city.
Ann Arbor ROCKS! I totally can see why it’s so healthy – so many people bike and walk around the university. there were SO many healthy restaurant options too. I loved living there while in school and thought briefly about staying there afterwards.
Where I live now is not healthy. There are barely any bike paths and often, there aren’t even sidewalks to walk! They keep expanding the roads to make room for car commuters which eliminates the non car pathways. And there are no initiatives and health fairs like I see in other cities. Other than the farmer’s markets, good luck finding organic anything.
I have a feeling that my city would rank pretty low…
How much do you guys think factors like smog and overall frindliness of the city should give weight to the studies?
Waaaah, I don’t live in a healthy Canadian city (Windsor). For the most part the population is overweight and it’s so polluted down here. Some of us however, try to break the norm ;) On a good note, we are only 45 minutes from Ann Arbor and it is an AMAZING place – like said above, much thanks to the U of M.
I miss Fredericton – which I’m surprised didn’t make one of the healthiest cities. Every time I visit I’m impressed how such a relatively small city is so progressive when it comes to healhty living.
I was surprised to see Toronto on the list. But then I clicked on the link and saw that they’d chosen the cities ahead of time, two per province. I thought that was kind of an odd method, rather than looking at the actual healthiest cities. Considering Toronto’s poor air quality (a 0, the worst score, on their scale) I was surprised they would choose it out of all the other cities in Ontario.
I think Waterloo, where I live, would probably be fairly high up there, if chosen. The air quality is much better here, there are bike paths (though not as many bike lanes on the roads unfortunately) and parks for recreational activities, RIM Park, and we’ve got a nice supply of fruits and veggies from the Mennonites and farming community all around us so I can’t imagine people not making use of that.
One thing I found interesting was the rating of self-rated good health and that some cities scored very low, especially considering their position on the list and overall score!
Ames, IA! That’s me.
That’s interesting, I had no idea!
97.9% of the people here have health insurance, that is AMAZING. I guess it is because most people work for the University (Iowa State Univ.) or are students at the University. I also think it’s interesting that we made the top of the list for the longest life expectancy. We really do not have very many elderly people here, so I guess the ones we do have are healthier. Also that good insurance coverage probably helps with a long life! I’m sure the lack of violent crime contributes too.
Totally off topic. Angela, the shorts that you’re wearing here:
http://ohsheglows.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/img_1170.jpg
are they lululemon? Do you know what they’re called? Thanks.
Go Ottawa! WOO HOO!