Not so pumped up
Fort Worth lags this far behind in ranking of country's healthiest cities

While one Texas city is running away with an important accolade, Fort Worth is lagging way behind.
A study released in February by personal finance website WalletHub puts Austin in 11th place among the country’s healthiest cities and first place in Texas. Fort Worth creeps over the finish line in 117th place. So much for that "Fit Worth" thing.
And with one exception — Plano, which earned a spot at No. 40 — the cities in DFW aren't winning any medals for fitness. They rank as follows:
- Dallas, No. 92.
- Arlington, No. 135.
- Irving, No. 136.
- Grand Prairie, No. 137.
- Garland, No. 141.
To determine which regions prioritize residents’ well-being, WalletHub compared 174 of the most populated U.S. cities across 43 key indicators of good health. The data ranges from cost of medical visits to fruit and vegetable consumption to fitness clubs per capita.
Fort Worth scored poorly in overall health (No. 120). In "food," it scored No. 95, in "fitness," it clocked in at No. 100, but for green spaces, it tumbled to No. 136.
DFW's highest ranking city, Plano, scored higher, with "health" earning a coveted ranking of No. 10. It also scored higher in food (No. 69), fitness (No. 36), and green spaces (No. 52).
Perhaps not surprisingly, outdoors-loving Austin held the same positions (No. 11 and No. 1 in Texas) in WalletHub’s 2019 study of the healthiest cities in the U.S. The city scores highest in the green space (No. 13), fitness (No. 15), and food (No. 16) categories of the study. More specifically, Austin appears at No. 3 for most healthy restaurants per capita and No. 5 for most running trails per capita.
However, the Capital City lands at No. 40 in the health care category. Despite this, the the City of Austin says, “Austin is a relatively healthy city."
As for other big cities in Texas, Houston came in at No. 82. Among all of the cities, Houston ranks 173rd for mental health counselors per capita. San Antonio clocked in at No. 103.
Ranking above Austin in the WalletHub study are: San Francisco (No. 1); Seattle (No. 2); San Diego (No. 3); Portland, Oregon (No. 4); Washington, D.C. (No. 5); New York City (No. 6); Denver (No. 7); Irvine, California (No. 8); Scottsdale, Arizona (No. 9); and Chicago (No. 10).
The Rio Grande Valley city of Brownsville ranked last, at No. 174.
Interestingly, Laredo has the lowest cost per doctor’s visit, $58.33, which is 3.3 times less expensive than in Boston, the city with the highest at $191.62, Wallethub says. Whereas, Amarillo has the lowest average monthly cost for a fitness-club membership, $10.17, which is 8.1 times less expensive than in San Francisco, the city with the highest at $82.83.