Which Cities are the Healthiest Places for Women?

I’m proud to see that my home town, San Francisco, is among the top five places for women to live according to Self Magazine’s annual Survey of America’s Healthiest Places for Women.  Their criteria for ranking 100 of the largest metropolitan areas included:

• rates of diseases such as cancer and depression
• factors that affect access to health care including the number of doctors per capita
• environmental and community measures such as air quality and crime rates

Interestingly, this year, “quality of sleep” was added as a determining factor.  Charleston, WV took the prize for being the worst sleeping area with the average woman experiencing insomnia 3 to 4 nights per week.  What’s going on there?

In front of San Francisco were Burlington, VT  in the top spot (which has 40 percent more ob/gyns than the list’s average), followed by Bethesda, MD, Portland, ME, and Cambridge, MA.

Additional results?  Women in Madison, WI exercise the most while those living in El Paso, TX have the fewest health clubs to choose from.  Raleigh, NC has the cleanest water but Riverside, CA has the most toxic sites.  Women in Las Vegas have the fewest Pap smears and Rockingham County, NH has the fewest STDs.  And even though San Francisco ranks high among the best places for women to live, we seem to have the most allergies and asthma.  I guess you can’t win ‘em all. It’s a beautiful city anyway.

Details of the survey can be found in Self Magazine’s November issue. You can log onto their website to see how your own state fared.