Which US city is the healthiest to live in?

WalletHub is out with its ranking of the healthiest cities in the U.S., stressing that location matters when it comes to health.

Methodology:

Researchers compared 182 cities and examined for different dimensions: healthcare, food, fitness and green space. They then evaluated the four dimensions with 41 metrics, grading them on a 100-point scale.

What metrics were used?

Health Care 

• Premature-Death Rate
• Mental Health.
• Mental-Health Counselors per Capita
• Physical Health
• Family Doctors per Capita
• Dentists per Capita
• Cost of Medical Visit
• Cost of Dental Visit
• Cost of Basic Medicine
• Quality of Public Hospital System
• Hospital Beds per Capita
• Adult Health-Insurance Coverage
• Youth Health-Insurance Coverage
• Share of Adults Who Visited a Doctor or a Dentist in the Past Year
• Share of Adults Who Checked their Cholesterol in the Past 5 years
• Mammography Screenings Among Women Ages 50–74
• Share of Women & Men Ages 65 and Older Who Received Core Preventive Services

Food

• Inadequate Fruit & Vegetable Consumption
• Farmer's Markets per Capita
• Gourmet Specialty-Food Stores per Capita
• Healthy Restaurants per Capita
• Dietitians & Nutritionists per Capita
• Share of Residents Who Say They Eat Healthy
• Google Search Interest for "Healthy Eating
• Share of Obese Residents: Full Weight 
• Limited Access to Healthy Foods: Full Weight

Fitness

• Share of Adults Who Engage in Any Physical Activity
• Well-Being "Physical" Score
• Fitness & Instruction Centers per Capita
• Average Cost of Fitness-Club Membership
• Weight-Loss Centers per Capita
• Fitness Trainers & Aerobics Instructors per Capita
• Intramural Leagues per Capita

Green Space

• Parkland Acres per Capita: Full Weight
• Quality of Parks: Full Weight
• Hiking Trails per Capita
• Walk Score: Full Weight
• Bike Score: Full Weight
• Physical-Activity Access
• City "Greenness"
• Recreation Access: Full Weight

Which are the healthiest cities? 

Findings:

According to WalleHub, San Francisco, Honolulu and Seattle are the healthiest cities in the U.S. They earned high marks in healthy eating, outdoor activity, health insurance and greenspace. 

Shreverpost, La., Gulfport, Miss. and Brownsville, Texas rounded out the bottom three. 

What they're saying:

Health experts have also weighed in on WalletHub's findings. 

"At a city level, air and water quality, traffic safety, commute times, and availability of reliable public transport (to encourage walking rather than driving) are important," Amy Justice of Yale University said. However, the most important factors have more to do with neighborhood than with city level factors. Safety, green space and sidewalks are clearly important to encourage outdoor activities and exercise."

"Look for excellent healthcare providers: hospitals AND primary care. "Also, cities with extensive recreational opportunities that do not require payment," Russ Molloy of Rutgers added. 

Top 10 healthiest cities

Dig deeper:

1. San Francisco
2. Honolulu
3. Seattle, Wash.
4. Salt Lake City
5. San Diego
6. Portland, Ore.
7. Denver
8. Minneapolis
9. Washington, DC
10. Huntington Beach, Calif.

Click here to read the full list.