In this, SELF’s 8th annual survey of the Best Places for Women, we crunched more than 6,000 bits of data in 50-plus categories to find the happiest and healthiest women around. The better news? We’ve got just-for-you advice on how to join their ranks. No matter where you live, you can live healthy — that’s the best news of all.";
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SAN FRANCISCO, CA
The first thing to know about San Francisco is that its residents love being first. In the past year, it became the first U.S. city to guarantee care to the uninsured, to ban plastic bags in large grocery stores, even the first to convert its recycling facility to run partly on solar power.
Women here rave about walkable neighborhoods, plentiful, scenic trails and offices that encourage exercise breaks. “I’ve lost 15 pounds since moving here without even trying,” says Stacy Wanless, 24, an assistant account executive at a public relations firm. “Instead of the social scene centering around drinking or eating, friends get together to go for a hike or run, take a ski trip or make a bonfire on the beach.”
Residents enjoy clean air and water and have access to nearly twice as many ob/gyns and three times more psychiatrists per capita than average.
More than 93 percent of women are insured, and by January, those who aren’t will be eligible for free care under the new universal health care plan. Odds are, your hometown is watching to see how it works — and benefiting once again from San Francisco’s path-forging ways.
RUNNERS-UP
2. Nassau-Suffolk counties, NY
3. SAN JOSE, CA
4. HONOLULU, HI
5. BURLINGTON, VT";
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GARY, IN
Founded in 1906 by U.S. Steel, this industrial area south of Chicago has long struggled with its environment. “All you have to do is drive along the Indiana Toll Road and you can see the haze floating over the whole area,” says Mariann Pittman, 47, a cabinetry designer in Valparaiso, Indiana.
Up to 400 illegal dump sites blight the region, and earlier this year the local BP oil refinery got the green light to pump an additional 1,833 pounds of pollutants a day into Lake Michigan.
Women here report feeling depressed at least four days a month, more than one in five of them smoke and they are 13 percent more likely to die of cancer than the average woman in our survey.
Help is on the way: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has pledged to clean up polluted waterways, and a National Institutes of Health program is tackling sky-high obesity rates.
This summer, after protests over BP’s water pollution permits, the company volunteered to stick to previous limits. “On the street, people are asking questions about this issue,” says Ellen Szarleta-Yancy, Ph.D., assistant professor at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana Uni-ver-sity North-west in Gary. “That’s a very good thing.”
RUNNERS-UP
2 Detroit, MI
3 Cincinnati, OH
4 Oklahoma City, OK
5 Columbus, OH";
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FITTEST: ORANGE COUNTY, CA
The O.C.’s yearlong beach season motivates women to exercise an average of 96 minutes a week, compared with 68 minutes in least-fit Huntington, West Virginia.
There are 39,000 acres of parks, 150 miles of bike trails and 4 miles of coast: “You always see people walking, running and cycling with family or friends,” says Sarah Clark, 32, a vice president for a hotel chain. “I meet friends some weekdays at 6:30 A.M. for workouts on the beach and kayak with my mom on weekends.”
RUNNERS-UP
2. San Francisco, CA
3. Honolulu, HI
4. Seattle, WA
5. Orlando, FL
LEAST FIT: HUNTINGTON, WV/ASHLAND, KY
“You can’t walk to work, the store, a park or a mall—you have to drive,” says Brenda Hawthorne, R.D., clinical nutrition manager at St. Mary’s Medical Center in Huntington. The average body-mass index is 28.5 (over 25 is considered overweight), a full point higher than last year.
A get-healthy initiative spearheaded by Kentucky’s governor (a doctor) and first lady (a nurse) includes an online fitness challenge. Log on, ladies; we’re rooting for you!
RUNNERS-UP
2. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX
3. Birmingham, AL
4. Columbus, OH
5. Jackson, MS";
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HEALTHIEST EATERS: SAN JOSE, CA
The moderate climate makes fertile ground for growing apricots, cherries, eggplants and squash, and women get 135 servings of fruit and veggies each month. There’s 18 percent fewer fast food outlets than average, and “you’re bound to find meatless entrées on menus, even at steak houses,” says student Deena Bustillo, 21.
Fresh finds will be even easier to come by when two more huge Whole Foods Markets open in 2009.
RUNNERS-UP
2. San Francisco, CA
3. Orange County, CA
4. Oakland, CA
5. Ventura, CA
UNHEALTHIEST EATERS: HUNTINGTON, WV/ASHLAND, KY
Tastes in these parts run to heavy, country cooking: chicken and dumplings, meat and potatoes. The area has 60 percent more fast food and pizza places per capita than San Jose, such as Stewarts Original Hot Dogs, a local fave. “Drive-throughs are always packed at lunchtime,” says Ashland’s Michelle Fosson, M.D., 38.
RUNNERS-UP
2. Tulsa, OK
3. Jackson, MS
4. Cleveland, OH
5. Birmingham, AL";
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BEST ENVIRONMENT: TUCSON, AZ
This area—tops on our list for its combo of clean air, water and land —boasts one of the largest arrays of solar panels in the world, converting enough of its ample sunshine to meet the annual electrical needs of nearly 730 homes, says Joe Salkowski of Tucson Electric Power.
Plus, the amount of water a typical home uses each month has dropped by nearly 750 gallons over the past five years.
RUNNERS-UP
2. Boise City, ID
3. Fargo, ND/Moorhead, MN
4. San Francisco, CA
5. Cheyenne, WY
WORST ENVIRONMENT: PHILADELPHIA, PA
Despite being the first city to implement a recycling law nearly 20 years ago, Philly today recycles a meager 7.3 percent of its waste. “Trash has become a part of the landscape; if it were gone, we would feel like something was missing,” says Sammy Davis, 21, a student. More than 460 facilities release air pollutants citywide, and the EPA has identified 84 potentially hazardous waste sites.
RUNNERS-UP
2. Gary, IN
3. Houston, TX
4. Newark, NJ
5. Bergen-Passaic counties, NJ";
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CLEANEST AIR: CHEYENNE, WY
Craving crisp, clean air? Go west, young woman. Cheyenne took top marks for pristine air quality, thanks in part to a dry climate and ample open space.
“Wind blows here and keeps the air circulating, and that helps move out any pollutants,” says Jim Jordan, quality assurance coordinator at the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality in Cheyenne.
The city’s modest population helps keep traffic light, generating minimal air pollution; be more like Cheyenne by using your car less.
RUNNERS-UP
2. Billings, MT
3. Sioux Falls, SD
4. Honolulu, HI
5. Anchorage, AK
DIRTIEST AIR: LOS ANGELES, CA
“The air in Los Angeles is a chemical soup,” says Matthew Lakin, an air toxics risk assessor for the EPA. Major ports and refineries, not to mention roughly 6 million vehicles traversing L.A. county roads, pump out the nation’s highest levels of ozone and particulate pollution, according to the most recent analysis by the American Lung Association. Add sunlight and L.A.’s infamous smog forms. Experts aren’t hazy on the health effects: “We’re finding many more adverse outcomes, including asthma, allergic airway disease and even cardiovascular disease, preterm birth and low birth weight babies,” says John Froines, Ph.D., professor and director of the Center for Occupational and Environmental Health at UCLA.
RUNNERS-UP
2. Houston, TX
3. Bakersfield, CA
4. Riverside–San Bernardino, CA
5. Fresno, CA";
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HAPPIEST: MINNEAPOLIS, MN
Why are depression and suicide so uncommon here? Residents enjoy high rates of home ownership and volunteerism, both of which studies link to happiness.
“Last weekend, my husband and I went to a charity gala one night, then did cleanup work at a school the next morning,” says Megan Feeney, 34, an instructor at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota.
RUNNERS-UP
2. Nashville, TN
3. Fargo, ND/Moorhead, MN
4. Des Moines, IA
5. Washington, DC
UNHAPPIEST: LOS ANGELES–LONG BEACH, CA
Depression rates are higher in L.A. than in most other communities on our list, and women are most likely to report being unsatisfied with their life overall.
One theory why: The car culture means “you can spend a lot of time alone and in traffic,” says project manager Anne-Marie Jones, 34. “There is less opportunity for impromptu meetings or striking up a conversation.”
RUNNERS-UP
2. Bakersfield, CA
3. Gary, IN
4. Stockton-Lodi, CA
5. Riverside–San Bernardino, CA";
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LEAST SMOKY: SALT LAKE CITY–OGDEN, UT
Less than 9 percent of women here light up daily, and cigarettes are banned not only in workplaces but in public parks, fields and golf courses.
“Living near mountains inspires you to ski, hike and bike,” says legislative analyst Jennifer Bruno, 27. “That’s difficult to do when you’re a smoker.”
RUNNERS-UP
2. San Jose, CA
3. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX
4. Orange County, CA
5. Los Angeles, CA
SMOKIEST: LAS VEGAS, NV
Twenty-seven percent of Sin City women smoke, the highest rate on our list, and Vegas has the survey’s smokiest workplaces. Last fall, the state passed an indoor tobacco ban, but it excludes casino gaming areas, which employ some 150,000 residents. “I’ve been a nonsmoker my whole life, so the only cigarettes I’m exposed to are at work,” says blackjack and baccarat dealer Kanie Kastroll, 40. “I’ve had to get sinus surgery, and coworkers are constantly suffering from bronchitis, sinus infections and allergies.”
RUNNERS-UP
2. Gary, IN
3. Dayton, OH
4. Akron, OH
5. Louisville, KY";
// END editorial data