Some of the ‘unhealthiest’ cities in the US are in Texas, study shows

(NEXSTAR) — What’s the health of your city?

Recently, WalletHub compared over 180 of U.S.’ most populous cities across 41 metrics, including in areas of health care, food, fitness and green spaces. All cities were then given a score out of 100, with 100 being the most “healthy,” by the data.

While no Texas cities cracked the top 10 healthiest cities in WalletHub’s analysis, Austin ranked 14th nationally, with an overall score of 58.61. Austin received its highest marks in health care (19th overall) and amount of green spaces (21st overall).

Unfortunately, no other Texas city appears close to the top — and in fact, multiple Lone Star State areas ranked lowest nationally. Below are Texas’ most unhealthy cities, per WalletHub’s analysis.

Rank	City	Total score	Health care	Food	Fitness	Green spaces
182	Brownsville	24.07	180	182	182	169
178	Laredo	31.21	181	179	180	149
176	Corpus Christi	32.20	174	166	173	159
167	Amarillo	36.62	165	167	156	123
155	Arlington	38.02	105	157	148	146

As you’ll see, south Texas cities really took a hit in the scoring, particularly Brownsville, which ranked dead last nationally. Brownsville scored last in the food and fitness categories, which factor things like access to fruit and vegetables and fitness/instruction centers per capita. The city also scored third-to-last in health care, with U.S. Census Bureau data showing about 32% of the city’s population under 65 being uninsured.

It’s also important to note, however, that some of these issues are likely exacerbated by Brownsville’s high poverty rate, which was estimated to be 24.9%, based on July 1, 2024 data via the U.S. Census Bureau. That’s more than double the national poverty rate (11.1%) and it’s been a long-standing problem, as Brownsville was named the poorest city in America over 10 years ago.

In Laredo, the poverty rate is also a factor to take into account. Per 2020 Census data, about 20.8% of residents in Laredo were living in poverty.

It’s a trend seen across many cities with large shares of Latinos, as Axios noted in 2022. The problem extends to highly Latino cities even outside of Texas (analysis included cities in Florida and California). Diana Caba, vice president for community and economic development at the Hispanic Federation, told Axios this is due to a variety of factors, including a historical lack of financial literacy and limited access to financial tools.

For more information and the full analysis, visit WalletHub.