April 19, 2019
There’s no place like home, especially if you live in Naples, Florida. For the fourth straight year, the Sunshine State’s Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island metro area has rated tops for “well-being” out of 156 communities nationwide, based on data collected in 2017 and 2018 as part of the Gallup National Health and Well-Being Index.
With a total well-being index score of 65.7, Naples is the ne plus ultra; followed by Salinas, California (64.5) ; Boulder, Colorado (64.5); Santa Rosa, California (64.2); and Ann Arbor, Michigan (also at 54.2).
Rounding out the top ten are Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida (63.8), Fort Collins, Colorado (63.8); Lancaster, Pennsylvania (63.7); North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, Florida (63.6); and Ashville, North Carolina (63.6).
The Gallup National Health and Well-Being Index is calculated on a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 represents the lowest possible well-being and 100 represents the highest. The score for each metro area is based on how it stocks up within each of the five essential elements of wellbeing:
- Career: Liking what you do each day and being motivated to achieve your goals;
- Social: Having supportive relationships and love in your life;
- Financial: Managing your economic life to reduce stress and increase security;
- Community: Liking where you live, feeling safe, and having pride in your community; and
- Physical: Enjoying good health and enough energy to get things done daily.
In most cases, a difference of 1.0 to 2.0 points in the Well-Being Index score of any two areas represents a statistically significant gap and consists of meaningful differences in at least some of the five elements of well-being. Each city reported is represented as the broader metropolitan statistical area, as defined by the federal government.
The Well-Being Index score for the Naples metro area, though remaining the highest nationwide, has slipped from 67.6 for 2016-2017 to 65.7 in 2017-2018, a drop that parallels a significant two-year decline in wellbeing nationally.
Each of the top five cities for 2017-2018 has frequented the list of the top 15 well-being cities numerous times in prior years.
Highlights for top-ranking cities in specific areas of well-being in 2017-2018 include:
- Boulder, a longtime pacesetter nationally in physical well-being, was the top U.S. city for the second year in a row for this element. The state of California provided the second- and third-ranked metros: Salinas and Santa Rosa.
- McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas, topped the nation in career well-being, marking the fourth year in a row that the city has been among the highest five nationally.
- Naples residents have the highest social well-being, edging out Montgomery, Alabama and fellow Floridian city, Ocala.
- After Naples, the top metro areas in financial well-being are Ann Arbor, Michigan; and San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California.
- Community well-being is highest in the Naples, Asheville, and Fort Collins (Colorado)metros
On the other end of the spectrum, the Gulfport-Biloxi-Pascagoula metro—which garnered the third-lowest ranking in 2016-2017—had the lowest overall well-being nationally for the first time in 2017-2018; supplanting Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma and Canton-Massillon, Ohio, neither of which reached the minimum number of completed surveys required for reporting this period.
Scranton–Wilkes-Barre–Hazleton, Pennsylvania came in second lowest, its lowest rank ever measured; followed by Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, Ohio-Pennsylvania. The South Bend, Indiana-Michigan metro was among the lowest 15 cities for the second straight year.
The Gulfport-Biloxi-Pascagoula metro was among the lowest three areas for career, financial and physical wellbeing, while Tulsa (social and physical) and Rockford (community and physical) were each among the lowest three in two areas of wellbeing. New Orleans-Metairie, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama joined Gulfport with the lowest financial wellbeing.
Learn more about where your area fall on the list by consulting the Gallup National Health and Well-Being Index .
Research contact: @Gallup
