Healthiest (and unhealthiest) US city

According to 2006 data from the Center for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC), the healthiest city in the States is Burlington, Vermont. The unhealthiest city: Huntington, West Virginia.

The data corroborates what we’ve already known- that age, income and educational status affect health. Although both are small college towns, Burlington residents are younger (average age 37 versus 40), richer (8% living at the poverty level versus 19%) and more educated (40% have at least a bachelor’s degree versus 15%) than Huntington residents. Nearly half of the Huntington residents are obese, 22% have heart disease and 13% have diagnosed diabetes. 31% of Huntington residents report not exercising at all.

According to the 2007 CDC data, Lincoln, Nebraska surpassed Burlington as the healthiest city (Burlington went down to 4^th place) but Huntington, West Virginia remained the unhealthiest! 92.8% of Lincoln residents reported being in good health compared to only 68.8% of Huntington residents.