The best (and worst) U.S. communities for health and well-being
For the second year in a row, Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island in Florida remains the top U.S. metro community for overall well-being, according to a newly released ranking by Gallup and Healthways.
The report, titled State of American Well-Being: 2016 Community Well-Being Rankings, looked at 189 communities across the country.
Barnstable Town, Massachusetts, and Santa Cruz-Watsonville, California — both of which ranked in the top six last year — came in second- and third-highest, respectively.
The well-being index is calculated on a scale of 0 to 100, with 0 representing the lowest possible rating and 100 the highest. Each score is made of up metrics in the following five categories:
- Purpose: liking what you do each day and being motivated to achieve your goals
- Social: having supportive relationships and love in your life
- Financial: managing your economic life to reduce stress and increase security
- Community: liking where you live, feeling safe, and having pride in your community
- Physical: having good health and enough energy to get things done daily
To assess these measures, researchers conducted more than 350,000 telephone interviews with U.S. adults across all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
The list of the top 10 U.S. communities for overall well-being of residents includes:
The report also ranks the 10 U.S. communities with the lowest overall ratings for residents’ well-being:
“The data and insights from this report can be used as a call-to-action for communities around the country, leveraging it to benchmark and identify opportunities for well-being improvement,” the report concludes.
