Philadelphia ranked 27th healthiest city in the United States

Philadelphia ranked the 27th healthiest city in the United States out of 174 cities, according to a recent 2019 survey.

The survey, conducted by WalletHub, ranked Philadelphia less healthy than its Northeastern counterparts New York City, which ranked sixth, and Boston, which ranked 20th. The survey shows, however, that Philadelphia’s rank has risen rapidly over the past two years. The city was ranked 90th in 2017’s report and 43rd in 2018’s report.

The survey used factors such as premature death rate, fruit and vegetable consumption, adults’ physical activity levels, as well as number of green spaces in the area to determine each city's rank. The top four slots went to cities on the West Coast — San Francisco, Seattle, San Diego, and Portland, respectively. 

The survey also found that Philadelphia has a low mental health professional to patient ratio. As of 2016, Data USA found that for every 100,000 people in the city, Philadelphia has 215 mental health professionals, while Boston has 674 such professionals, and Washington, D.C. has 438 professionals. A similar trend was also seen with the per capita number of physicians and dentists in the cities, with Boston having more than the double that of Philadelphia.

Philadelphia, however, ranked 10th best city for recreation, though it was also ranked the 41st most green city, well behind the other major Northeastern cities. The survey measured city's green ranking by looking at factors such as clean drinking water, food, and air.

WalletHub’s ranking of Philadelphia echoes other surveys of the city’s overall healthiness. The Philadelphia county has been found to be the least healthy county in Pennsylvania by a ranking compiled by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute for the past eight years.