Plano is the highest-ranking North Texas city in a WalletHub study on healthy cities across the United States.
The 2022 WalletHub Healthiest and Unhealthiest Cities in America list placed Plano at No. 33 of 182 cities, partly due to its low cost of doctor visits.
“Plano ranks among the top 35 healthiest places to live in the U.S. due to its low premature death rate, large share of residents in good physical and mental health, and low cost for medical and dental visits,” said Jill Gonzalez, an analyst with WalletHub. “The city’s quality of parks also contributed to it being one of the healthiest cities.”
At No. 7, Austin outranked Plano, even though the average cost for a medical visit in Austin is $117.55, compared to Plano’s $68.
“Some of the factors that kept Plano from ranking higher include the small number of mental health counselors per capita, the low youth health insurance coverage, and the small number of dietitians and nutritionists per capita,” Gonzalez told The Dallas Express.
According to Gonzalez, the WalletHub healthy cities study factored in the number of mental health counselors because it is part of the healthcare system of a city.
“Mental health is an integral part of overall health,” she said, “and someone who is mentally unhealthy cannot be considered overall healthy.”
Compared to Plano, Dallas and Fort Worth scored much lower on the healthy cities list at 107 and 133, respectively.
“The factors that kept Dallas and Fort Worth from ranking higher include the cost of a dental visit and the adult and youth health insurance coverage,” Gonzalez said. “The two cities also ranked low for the number of mental health counselors per capita, the share of elderly residents who received core preventive services, and the share of obese adults.”
As previously reported in The Dallas Express, the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metro area ranked No. 27 out of 100 cities for obesity.
“Plano has more farmer’s markets per capita, fewer obese residents, and more access to healthy foods,” Gonzalez said in an interview with The Dallas Express. “The city also has more adults who engage in any physical activity, more fitness and instruction centers per capita, and lower costs for fitness club memberships.”
According to the data, the average cost of a fitness club membership is $40.16 in Dallas, $32.86 in Fort Worth, and $28.11 in Plano.
Irving, Garland, and Grand Prairie ranked much lower than Plano at No. 149, 150, and 151, respectively.
“Some of the factors that cause Garland, Grand Prairie, and Irving to rank in the bottom half include the low adult and youth health insurance coverage, the small number of gourmet specialty food stores per capita, and the small number of fitness and instruction centers per capita,” Gonzalez said.
The healthy cities study further found that San Francisco landed the top spot partly because its residents are in good mental and physical health.
“They have good health insurance coverage both for adults and children,” Gonzalez added. “The city’s residents also have adequate fruit and vegetable consumption, they have the most farmer’s markets per capita, a large number of healthy restaurants, and the lowest share of obese adults.”
