Bay Area county among America’s healthiest: study

Phil Mayer
·2 min read

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — San Francisco County is among the healthiest counties in the United States, according to a study published by Velotric.

The study took the 99 most-populated counties nationwide and compared them in a variety of health categories. San Francisco ranked as the fourth-healthiest, behind just Montgomery, Md., Middlesex, Mass. and Fairfax, Va.

San Francisco has the lowest obesity rate of any of the 99 counties, according to the study. Just 19% of San Franciscans are obese, which is classified as having a Body Mass Index (BMI) over 29. By comparison, 39% of San Bernardino County (Calif.) residents are obese.

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In addition to its low obesity rate, San Francisco measured as a top-12 county in three other categories: physical activity level, “gym near me” search volume and smoking/drinking. It was above-average in food health and rate of adults who consider themselves to be in poor health.

The study included five Bay Area counties. All of them were in the top half of counties measured for health:

  • San Francisco (No. 4)

  • Santa Clara (No .7)

  • San Mateo (No. 8)

  • Alameda (No. 15)

  • Contra Costa (No. 28)

The unhealthiest counties measured in the studies were Hildago, Tx., El Paso, Tx., and Bronx, N.Y.

Methodology

Velotric used data on the top 99 most populous U.S. counties from County Health Rankings & Roadmaps and Yelp Fusion API for its study. It ranked counties in a variety of categories, including:

  • Percentage of adults in poor or fair health

  • Percentage of adults with obesity (BMI ≥ 30)

  • Percentage of adults doing no physical activity in their free time

  • Smoking/drinking score

    • Percentage of adults who smoke cigarettes

    • Percentage of adults who report heavy alcohol use

  • Unhealthy food score

    • Food environment index

    • Number of fast food restaurants on Yelp per 100,000 residents

  • 2023 Google Trends search volume data for “gym near me” per 100,000 residents

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