How healthy is YOUR city? Interactive map reveals all

If health is a priority, you might want to skip going to Gary, Indiana. 

The mid-western city has the highest rates of smoking, sleeplessness, and inactivity.

That is according to a new interactive map compiled by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, revealing the US cities with the best and the worst health behaviors.

Unsurprisingly, the west is a haven of healthy habits.

The map is part of the CDC’s 500 Cities Project – a collaboration that provides information on various conditions in the 500 biggest American cities.

Rates of binge drinking, obesity, smoking, sleep and physical activity were measured.

Gary, famous for being the birthplace of The Jackson Five, took the top spot in three-out-of-the-five categories: physical activity, smoking, and sleep.

Meanwhile, Orem, Utah, (known as ‘Family City USA’) scored the lowest rates in both smoking and binge drinking. 

The map is a first-of-its kind data analysis, releasing information on a large scale for cities and for small areas within cities, much of which was previously limited. 

In its first of three categories, Gary, Indiana, took the top spot for adults not getting adequate sleep with more than half (51.3 percent) sleeping less than seven hours a night. Fort Collins, Colorado, ranked the lowest at 24.4 percent

The map shows the cities with the highest rates of unhealthy behaviors in red and the lowest in pale yellow.

According to the CDC, which published the map, the site is primarily intended for public health professionals, policy makers and researchers.

They can then use the data to monitor their cities’ health, identify health problems and target health interventions to specific areas. 

• United States of hypochondria: Map reveals where people…

  Want to be healthy? Stay away from Detroit! City is named…

  War on ‘fake milk’: Dairy industry begs FDA to ban almond…

Gary, Indiana, took the the top spot in three categories: insufficient sleep, lack of physical activity and current smoking.

Defined as less than seven hours of sleep a night, over 51 percent of Gary residents were found to not be getting enough sleep. Fort Collins, Colorado, where only 24 percent of the population reported insufficient sleep, was the city with the lowest rate.

Gary also came first in current smoking, described as having smoked 100 cigarettes or more in a lifetime and currently smoking every day or some days.

About 30 percent of residents fit this bill, while Orem, Utah, took the lowest spot with just over eight percent of residents being habitual smokers.

Physical activity rates also did not fare well in Gary. The CDC measured this by tallying the number of residents who answered ‘No’ to the question: ‘During the past month, other than your regular job, did you participate in any physical activities or exercises such as running, calisthenics, golf, gardening, or walking for exercise?’

Over 38 percent of residents answered ‘no’ to the question while another Colorado city, Denver, had just 13.6 residents respond with ‘no’. 

A little more than 30 percent of residents in Gary were found to be regular smokers. The lowest rate was in Orem, Utah, with just 8.2 percent reporting regular smoking

Gary also took the top spot for adults who do the least amount of physical activity at 38.4 percent. The lowest rate came from Denver, Colorado, at 13.6 percent

In a change of pace, the US city with the highest binge-drinking rate is Appleton, Wisconsin, where about 25.5 percent of people reported binge drinking, defined as having at least four or five drinks on a single occasion in the past month.

Orem, Utah, was found to have the lowest rate, where only about nine percent of people reported recent binge drinking.

Dayton, Ohio came first as the city with the highest rate of obesity at 38.8 percent, while only 12.2 percent of residents in Milpitas, California, are obese. 

Appleton, Wisconsin, had the highest rate of binge drinking at 25.5 percent, while Orem, Utah, had the lowest at close to nine percent, CDC figures show

Almost 39 percent of residents in Dayton, Ohio were found to be obese, while Milpitas, California, had the lowest rate at 12.2 percent

The website pulled its data from the CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System – a health survey that collects data from residents in all 50 states – as well as information from the US Census.

This came just two weeks after a WalletHub review named Detroit, Michigan, as the worst city when it came to providing for the physical needs and mental health of its residents.

The rest of the bottom five all fell in the south: Brownsville, Texas; Memphis, Tennessee; Laredo, Texas; and Shreveport, Louisiana.

Meanwhile, San Francisco took the top grade as the healthiest out of the country’s 150 most populated cities.

It was followed by four other western cities: Salt Lake City, Utah; Scottsdale, Arizona; Seattle, Washington; and Portland, Oregon. 

‘The 500 Cities Project reflects an innovation in health data for more than 100 million people – a third of the U.S. population,’ who live in these cities, said Donald Schwarz, vice president for Program at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, an organization that collaborated with the CDC.

‘For the first time, anyone who cares about the health of those living in our cities can access data down to the city and neighborhood levels for both the conditions and behaviors that have a substantial impact on population health.’