Does Seattle earn its place as 2nd healthiest city in US?

A recent study ranked Seattle as the second healthiest city in the United States.

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The study comes courtesy of Wallet Hub, ranking the health of major U.S. cities based on a variety of factors. Seattle ranked first in its share of physically active adults, third in running trails per capita, seventh in its share of adults eating enough fruits and vegetables per day, and 10th in healthy restaurants per capita.

“I believe it,” said Gee and Ursula Show co-host Gee Scott. “I think there are a lot of reasons we can come up with to make us understand and believe why.”

“Number one would be all of the activities we have here,” he added. “Hiking — it’s a big deal. I used to make fun of it until I tried it; it’s great. All of the trails that we have here in this town? Phenomenal.”

Beyond that, it’s also relatively easy to adopt a healthy alternative diet.

“You can say, ‘hey, I don’t eat meat,’ and not everybody looks at you like you’re crazy,” said Gee.

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But even while the city thrives in most categories related to physical health, it’s in the realm of mental health where Seattle appears to struggle. The city ranked a dismal 37th in mental health counselors per capita, something many would argue is the tip of the iceberg for the city’s larger endemic issues.

“When I look at it and think ‘healthiest city,’ and then think of all the problems we’re talking about — our drug crisis, our homeless crisis, our mental health crisis — I feel like a few things were ignored on this,” co-host Ursula Reutin pointed out.

Coming in as the healthiest city in the nation was San Francisco. After Seattle was San Diego in third, followed by Portland and Washington, D.C. at fourth and fifth respectively.

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