New York City – Only the 22nd in the Country for Health?!

The American College of Sports Medicine recently published a study ranking the “healthiest” cities in the United States.  These rankings were based on a composite score including but not limited to Center of Disease Control (CDC) health reports, area and use of city parks, lifestyle behaviors like smoking or exercise, availability of farmers markets and recreational areas, and public school physical education classes.  From this weighted score, New York City ended up at a disappointing 22 out of the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the USA.  The top 5 cities included Minneapolis, Washington, D.C., Boston, San Francisco, and Hartford.

What does NYC do well?

According to the study, NYC has a……higher percent of city land for parks, higher percent of space used for public transportation, higher than goal of biking or walking to work, and a higher number of primary health providers per capita...to mention a  few.

What could NYC work on? 

NYC’s areas of weakness include a…higher percent of asthma, angina or coronary heart disease, and diabetes, higher death rate from cardiovascular disease, fewer park acres per capita, fewer farmer markets, baseball diamonds, and park playgrounds per capita…for example.

More detailed information on NYC and the other cities can be found at: http://americanfitnessindex.org/docs/reports/2012_afi_report_final.pdf