2020: These Cities Are the Healthiest and Unhealthiest in Texas

Innerbody.com has carefully evaluated the data and identified the top 10 healthiest Texas cities, as well as the 10 least healthy cities in the state.

Innerbody.com’s research team closely examined the latest government data from the Centers for Disease Control, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Economic Research Service, among others, in order to evaluate Texas’ 30 largest cities (from Odessa to Houston).

Since everything is bigger in Texas, we pored over extensive data sets, analyzing 20 different factors across the following four key dimensions in order to determine our Health Rankings:

• Clinical Care & Prevention
• Disease & Health Outcomes
• Health Behaviors
• Physical Environment

Among the 20 factors were residents' access to health care and health insurance; cancer and obesity rates; air quality and lead exposure; and even how much sleep an average resident gets.

Plano takes the top spot this year as the healthiest large city in Texas for 2020, moving up one spot from last year’s rankings. Plano has the highest overall Health Score (78.8) by a decent margin over Frisco, ranked 2nd (73.7), while Austin (69.6) rounds out the top 3.

Plano ranked an impressive #1 or #2 in each of our four dimensions. With outstanding clinical care and prevention, low disease rates, healthy behavioral habits, and a great physical environment, Plano will be tough to beat in the years to come.

Meanwhile, the least healthy large city in Texas for 2020 is Waco (30.2), with Brownsville (33.9) and Laredo (35.4) most narrowly escaping that distinction.

Here are all 20 factors that we used for this study:

Without further ado, here are the Top 10 Healthiest Cities in the Lone Star State for 2020:

Below are cities #30 - #21, the least healthy cities in Texas:

Here are how some of the cities fared in select factors:

Below is how each of the largest 30 cities in Texas was ranked overall, along with how each was ranked in each of our four key dimensions: Care & Prevention, Disease Outcomes, Health Behaviors, and Physical Environment:

We examined the 30 largest cities in Texas (from Houston to Odessa) based on the latest U.S. Census Bureau statistics across four key dimensions: Clinical Care & Prevention, Disease & Health Outcomes, Health Behaviors, and Physical Environment. We analyzed 5 metrics within each dimension.

Therefore, for each city we looked at no less than 20 different health factors in total. We graded each metric on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 always representing the healthiest, most favorable conditions.

More detailed information about each metric - including definition, source, and weighting - is as follows:

Clinical Care & Prevention: 25% total weight

Insurance Access: 5% weight

• Measures: Current lack of health insurance among adults aged 18–64 years
• Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Routine Checkups: 5% weight

• Measures: Visits to doctor for routine checkup within the past year among adults aged ≥18 years
• Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Dental Visits: 5% weight

• Measures: Visits to dentist or dental clinic among adults aged ≥18 years
• Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Influenza Vaccination: 5% weight

• Measures: Older adults aged ≥65 years who are up to date on a core set of clinical preventive services (influenza or pneumococcal vaccination)
• Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Cholesterol Screening: 5% weight

• Measures: Cholesterol screening among adults aged ≥18 years
• Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Disease & Health Outcomes: 25% total weight

Cancer: 5% weight

• Measures: Cancer (excluding skin cancer) among adults aged ≥18 years
• Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

High Blood Pressure: 5% weight

• Measures: High blood pressure among adults aged ≥18 years
• Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Diabetes: 5% weight

• Measures: Diagnosed diabetes among adults aged ≥18 years
• Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Coronary Heart Disease: 5% weight

• Measures: Coronary heart disease among adults aged ≥18 years
• Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Asthma: 5% weight

• Measures: Current asthma prevalence among adults aged ≥18 Years
• Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Unhealthy Behaviors: 25% total weight

Smoking: 5% weight

• Measures: Current smoking among adults aged ≥18 years
• Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Obesity: 5% weight

• Measures: Obesity among adults aged ≥18 years
• Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Lack of Physical Activity: 5% weight

• Measures: No leisure-time physical activity among adults aged ≥18 years
• Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Lack of Sleep: 5% weight

• Measures: Sleeping less than 7 hours among adults aged ≥18 years
• Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Binge Drinking: 5% weight

• Measures: Binge drinking among adults aged ≥ 18 years
• Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Physical Environment: 25% total weight

Air Pollution: 5% weight

• Measures: Average daily concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) per cubic meter (average)
• Source: US Environmental Protection Agency

Healthy Food Access: 5% weight

• Measures: Population living more than ½ mile from the nearest supermarket, supercenter, or large grocery store (%)
• Source: Economic Research Service

Lead Exposure Risk: 5% weight

• Measures: Poverty-adjusted risk of housing-based lead exposure (index)
• Source: American Community Survey

Park Access: 5% weight

• Measures: Population living within a 10 minute walk of green space (%)
• Source: ParkServe®

Walkability: 5% weight

• Measures: Neighborhood amenities accessible by walking as calculated by Walk Score® (index)
• Source: Walk Score®

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• US Environmental Protection Agency
• Economic Research Service
• American Community Survey
• ParkServe®
• Walk Score®
• Innerbody.com Research

• National Institute of Health
• KidsHealth
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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• Finding the Best DNA Health Test

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