The Provo-Orem community in Utah has the highest well-being in the U.S., according to a new ranking from Gallup-Healthways.
The ranking, which examined life evaluation, emotional health, access to basic necessities, healthy behaviors, physical health and work environment, is based on survey results from residents of 189 communities from 2012 to 2013.
The well-being community ranking is similar to that of the well-being state ranking; the state ranking showed that well-being is largely higher in the Midwest and Western states, and lower in Southern States.
In the new ranking, the community of Huntington-Ashland in West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio scored the lowest in the well-being index. Charleston, W.V., scored the second-lowest and Redding, Calif., scored the third-lowest.
When looking at communities with 1 million residents or more, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara in California topped the well-being ranking. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, also in California, and Washington, D.C.-Arlington-Alexandra in Virginia/Maryland/West Virginia, came in second and third in the well-being ranking for these large communities.
Some metro areas scored higher than others for the different factors used to determine well-being. Ann Arbor, Mich., scored highest in life evaluation. Meanwhile, Honolulu, Hawaii, scored highest for emotional health and San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles in California scored highest for work environment. Holland-Grand Haven in Michigan scored highest for physical heath and access to basic necessities, and Salinas, Calif., scored highest for healthy behaviors.
Date: March 25, 2014