Health care costs rising and U.S. life expectancy declining

With health care costs rising and U.S. life expectancy declining for three consecutive years, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2020’s Healthiest & Unhealthiest Cities in America.

To identify the places where health is a priority, WalletHub compared more than 170 of the largest U.S. cities across 43 key metrics. The data set ranges from cost of medical visit to fruit and vegetable consumption to fitness clubs per capita.
 

 
Key Stats

• Overland Park, Kansas, has the lowest share of physically unhealthy adults, 7.60 percent, which is 2.5 times lower than in Detroit, the city with the highest at 19.20 percent.
   
• Laredo, Texas, has the lowest cost per doctor’s visit, $58.33, which is 3.3 times less expensive than in Boston, the city with the highest at $191.62.
   
• Portland, Maine, has the lowest share of adults eating fruit less than once daily, 28.20 percent, which is 1.8 times lower than in Gulfport, Mississippi, the city with the highest at 51.80 percent.
   
• Amarillo, Texas, has the lowest average monthly cost for a fitness-club membership, $10.17, which is 8.1 times less expensive than in San Francisco, the city with the highest at $82.83.