No Mas: Houston Among Nation's Unhealthiest Cities

HOUSTON, TX — How healthy is your city? It usually depends on whom you ask, but for the most part everyone has an idea how physically healthy they are, and it’s often a byproduct of where they live and work.

According to a WalletHub.com survey, Texas has some pretty unhealthy cities, with only one city — yes, it’s Austin (sigh) — listed among the top 20 healthiest cities in the US.

The next healthiest Texas city was Plano, which came it at #39 on the list, out of 174 cities in the US.

The survey considered a number of factors, including:

• Health clubs per capita
• Healthy and unhealthy restaurants per capita
• The cost of healthcare visits
• Available mental health practitioners
• Health Club use
• Consumption of fruits and vegetables
• Adult physical activity

So how’d the rest of Texas do?

Not so hot, really.

The Bayou City —a couch potatos dream, according to this survey — came in at a not so stellar #92 on the WalletHub.com list.

Houston got low marks for available healthcare and the lack of green space, odd since Houston has a plethora of parks and green space, and ample trails along Greens Bayou and Buffalo Bayou in downtown, and has hospitals and clinics everywhere, it seems.

But, I digress.

Of course, Houston also has its fair share of restaurants and micro breweries, and it's the start of festival season, which can't help the ole waistline.

So which cities in Texas got the unhealthiest rating, per the survey?

The honors fall to Corpus Christi, which came in at #166, followed by Laredo and Brownsville, the two unhealthiest cities in Texas and the US.

Want to know how healthy your community is?

Click the link to see how your city was rated in this survey.

Image: Shutterstock

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