Salt Lake City has once again earned national recognition as one of the healthiest places to live in the United States, according to a new WalletHub study that evaluated 182 of the nation’s largest cities on a variety of health and wellness measures.
The report ranked Salt Lake City fourth overall, trailing only San Francisco, Honolulu and Seattle. The Utah capital received particularly high marks for encouraging active lifestyles, placing third nationwide in both the fitness and green space categories. It also ranked 14th for health care and 38th for food.
Utah Had More Than One Entry On The List
West Valley City also appeared in the national rankings, giving Utah a second city represented in the study. While it ranked considerably lower overall than Salt Lake City, its inclusion reflects the state’s presence among the nation’s largest metropolitan areas evaluated by WalletHub.
Researchers based the rankings on 41 metrics divided evenly among four categories: health care, food, fitness and green space. Factors ranged from access to doctors and health insurance to obesity rates, healthy eating habits, fitness centers, hiking trails, parks, walkability and bikeability.
Although southern Utah communities such as Cedar City and St. George were not included because the study examined only the country’s largest cities, many of the qualities that helped Salt Lake City earn its top-five ranking are readily available throughout the region…