Men's Health Rankings

Men’s Health (which despite indications from the cover art is not about gay men) has an article listing Cities based on health ranking for men. Here’s a listing of key BPB cities:

2. San Francisco, CA; Fitness: A, QOL: A, Health: B
11. Austin, TX; Fitness: A, QOL: B, Health: A
24. Washington, DC; Fitness: A, QOL: D, Health: F
31. Los Angeles, CA; Fitness: A, QOL: F, Health: B
44. Houston, TX; Fitness: B, QOL: D, Health: C
49. New York, NY; Fitness: C, QOL: D, Health: C
90. Shreveport, LA; Fitness: F, QOL: B, Health: F

We aren’t doctors. So how did we take the pulse of 101 cities? We used data as our diagnostic tool. We sought the most definitive stats in the land, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention WONDER database for mortality data; the CDC’s Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance 2001 report; Crime in the United States, 2001, from the FBI; the EPA’s 2002 Air Quality Report; CDC Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data (compiled and calculated by BestPlaces.net); the 2002 Urban Mobility study; fitness data from Claritas research; gym-membership numbers from Scarborough Research; and, finally, physician data from Health Market Science.