North Carolina City Ranked As One Of The Unhealthiest Cities In The US

Is Fayetteville really one of the nation’s unhealthiest cities? Personal finance website WalletHub ranked the 182 biggest cities in the United States and Fayetteville was almost dead last. Charlotte found its way to the middle of the pack. So what is the deal with Fayetteville?

WalletHub looked at 43 measures across four broad categories. This included health care, food, fitness, and green space. They looked at the premature death rate, the number of farmers' markets per capita, Google search interest for “healthy eating,” the share of adults who engage in any physical activity, and how much cities spend per capita on parks. Fayetteville ranks 176th in both food and green space. It was 168th in fitness.

The healthiest city in the country, according to Wallethub is San Francisco, followed by Seattle and Honolulu. By the way, Brownsville, Texas, came in last.

County Health Rankings & Roadmaps recently released their 2023 rankings. The goal of CHR&R is to "bring actionable data, evidence, guidance and stories to support community-led efforts to grow community power and improve health equity." It is created by The University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute (UWPHI). For 2023 the rankings focused on "the connection between civic health and thriving people and places." So how healthy is Charlotte and the surrounding area compared to the rest of the state?

First, we need to know exactly what we are looking at. On the County Health Rankings website, you can filter by a wide range of metrics. Right now we are looking at the rankings based on Health Outcomes. These rankings tell us how long people live on average within a community. As well as how much physical and mental health people experience in a community while they are alive. These rankings are out of the state, so for the counties in the Charlotte Metro Area that are in North Carolina you will see a number/100 for 100 counties. For South Carolina its /46. The only counties to make the top 5 in their respective states were Union and York. But Mecklenburg was right on the edge of that. Some of the surrounding counties didn't fare as well.

Keep reading to see how the Charlotte Metro Area counties ranked and which are the most healthy. Get more info and data here.

Ranking: 6/100

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Mecklenburg+County,+NC/@35.2579149,-81.0843704,10z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x8856abc96599e1e5:0x19f6c12dbcdbcbed!8m2!3d35.2632655!4d-80.8543847!16s%2Fm%2F025rst1

Ranking: 38/100

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Alexander+County,+NC/@35.9110416,-81.3138001,11z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x8851415549d0feef:0xe139296cdcb34ebc!8m2!3d35.8974199!4d-81.2078164!16zL20vMG40cWw

Ranking: 11/100

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Cabarrus+County,+NC/@35.3456732,-80.6813392,11z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x88540e2641762e41:0x6e87cd9f4a314dc9!8m2!3d35.4168123!4d-80.5882803!16zL20vMG40bGY

Ranking: 83/100

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Cleveland+County,+NC/@35.3739408,-81.6850113,11z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x885726bf5a06ac61:0xe0717f59b28a13a4!8m2!3d35.361354!4d-81.6035062!16zL20vMG40Zzg

Ranking: 44/100

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Davidson+County,+NC/@35.7651506,-80.5455932,10z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x8853f330de9c14c7:0x1e54697c00d5d7e3!8m2!3d35.7748479!4d-80.1875065!16zL20vMG40Y3A

Ranking: 58/100

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Gaston+County,+NC/@35.2840308,-81.3293821,11z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x8856bc771b69ffc9:0xbcf2c2930f15a94!8m2!3d35.2895651!4d-81.2078164!16zL20vMG40OTE

Ranking: 16/100

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Iredell+County,+NC/@35.7733166,-81.1815331,10z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x88515a5200f53299:0xf4eb20ac5d2dd7e0!8m2!3d35.8310501!4d-80.8986502!16zL20vMG40NDQ

Ranking: 24/100

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Lincoln+County,+NC/@35.4840267,-81.3787163,11z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x8856c94634149c73:0x4546ffa586472a29!8m2!3d35.4637028!4d-81.2078164!16zL20vMG40MXg

Ranking: 64/100

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Rowan+County,+NC/@35.6826493,-80.6173072,11z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x8853f05955582bbf:0xa5157db05b21344f!8m2!3d35.6303455!4d-80.543845!16zL20vMG4zcmc

Ranking: 63/100

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Stanly+County,+NC/@35.3235352,-80.4187812,11z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x8854793387e2b86d:0x629863694f6d4e76!8m2!3d35.3014554!4d-80.2321313!16zL20vMG4zcHo

Ranking: 3/100

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Union+County,+NC/@35.0111265,-80.6986392,11z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x8855cd4d43af5f23:0x9ba654f3f53bc105!8m2!3d34.9338651!4d-80.543845!16zL20vMG4zbXE

Ranking: 38/46

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Chester+County,+SC/@34.6826639,-81.3140163,11z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x885642afcf880f4d:0x34e92ffeaa66cee8!8m2!3d34.6707995!4d-81.1196075!16zL20vMG13MHM

Ranking: 30/46

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Chesterfield+County,+SC/@34.5917644,-80.3108553,11z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x8855a1f69372c2e7:0xaeb8051247ca5fab!8m2!3d34.6830936!4d-80.1428584!16zL20vMG13MGQ

Ranking: 14/46

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Lancaster+County,+SC/@34.7668773,-80.9391356,10z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x885679a9ff354be5:0x3a20a61702fc0bc0!8m2!3d34.7253411!4d-80.6770787!16zL20vMG12djc

Ranking: 2/46

https://www.google.com/maps/place/York+County,+SC/@34.9925309,-81.3187953,11z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x88568b61ebfa3309:0x6b6a46dada99f76a!8m2!3d34.9871367!4d-81.2518833!16zL20vMG12bHM