Boston Ranked Healthiest Metro Area In U.S.

With a view like that, who wouldn’t want to go for a run? Skyline photo via Shutterstock

We’ve reported a lot on Boston’s health rankings. We were ranked the second fittest city in the U.S. by Forbes and Massachusetts was ranked the second fittest state by the same publication. United Health Foundation ranked Mass. fourth in the nation for overall health last year, and MapMyFitness ranked Mass. the second fittest state in the country last year. And we have the second lowest obesity rate in the nation according to Gallup. But here at Hub Health we were starting to get an “always a bridesmaid” mentality. When are we going to be number one? Well, grab your bouquets because we are finally a blushing bride.

Boston was ranked the healthiest city in America by NerdWallet, a company that specializes in online tools to save you money. OK, so NerdWallet is not Forbes, but it still counts, right? NerdWallet used a few different methods to get their data. They say that they sifted through the fifty largest metro areas to find the ones with the best indicators of health, including health scores for the residents, health insurance coverage, a high prevalence of doctors, and clean air.

This is why we won, according to NerdWallet:

Health insurance coverage in the city is excellent, largely due to Romneycare, which requires that each resident obtain health insurance and provides free health insurance to low-income individuals.  There are a whopping 591 physicians per 100,000 residents in the city, and programs like the federally-funded Boston Healthy Start Initiative and Northeastern University’s Healthy Kids, Healthy Futures program, which supports health-promoting environments for young children to prevent early childhood obesity, show the city’s commitment to health.

So rejoice, Bostonians, we finally won. Are you paying attention Forbes?