NerdWallet: Providence metro area among healthiest

NERDWALLET RANKED the healthiest places in America and the Providence metropolitan area came in at No. 20. / COURTESY NERDWALLET
NERDWALLET RANKED the healthiest places in America and the Providence metropolitan area came in at No. 20. / COURTESY NERDWALLET

PROVIDENCE – The Providence-New Bedford-Fall River metropolitan area made the top 20 in NerdWallet’s survey of the healthiest places in America.

With 35.7 percent of residents at a healthy weight, 75.7 percent of residents who engage in physical activity, 91 percent with health insurance and 352 physicians and surgeons per 100,000 residents, the Providence metro had an overall health score of 52.5.

Coming in at No. 1 out of the 50 largest metros was the Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Mass.-N.H. area with a health score of 88.3. Forty-three and two-tenths percent of residents had a healthy weight, and 95.8 percent of residents have health insurance.

This was the second year in a row that Boston topped the list. Calling it a “hub for medical research and health care,” NerdWallet said it is not a surprise to see that it also has the highest number of physicians and surgeons per 100,000 residents at 514.2.

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Another New England metro cracked the top 10 – the Hartford, Conn., area, which came in at No. 9. Nearly 81 percent of residents engage in physical activity there, according to the survey.

Four of the other nine places in the top 10 are West Coast metro areas: San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and San Jose.

The survey found that the unhealthiest cities are in the South – with seven of the bottom 10 places on the list in metro areas in Southern states, including three in Texas – Houston, Dallas and San Antonio.

NerdWallet said residents in most of these places lag behind in terms of fitness and physical activity levels, and that the rate of health insurance coverage is lower than in many of the healthier places.

Last was the Memphis, Tenn., metro area with an overall health score of 16.3.

NerdWallet used data from the American Fitness Index, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey to come up with the findings.

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