Dive Brief:

• Amsterdam, Netherlands; Oslo, Norway and Munich, Germany headed a ranking of the world’s healthiest cities from Europe-based rental site Spotahome. San Francisco was the top U.S. city, ranking 28th, followed by Chicago at 37th.​
• The index analyzed 89 cities' incorporated data from 10 categories: gym availability, vacation days, annual sunshine hours, work-life balance, life expectancy at birth, air and water quality, fast food availability, obesity in adults, green spaces and electric vehicle (EV) charging points.
• "It's easier to stay healthy in a city with healthy social habits," the website writes. "But it's much harder in cities with high levels of pollution, too many fast-food restaurants and not enough green space."

Dive Insight:

The website gives high marks to London for availability of EV chargers, which fits with Mayor Sadiq Khan’s push to cut the city’s transportation emissions to zero by 2050 through electrification (the United Kingdom government is also set to require EV chargers in all new homes). New York was the top U.S. city for EV charging, ranking fifth. Notably the ranking looks at concentration of chargers near city centers, but is a metric for how much public support and investment there is for clean vehicles.

For air and water quality, the website relied on crowdsourced data from Numbeo and found that Wellington, New Zealand and Reykjavik, Iceland were the cleanest cities. The bottom of the rankings tended towards megacities in traditionally polluted regions: Cairo, Egypt; Lima, Peru; and Mexico City landed at the bottom of cities with sufficient data. Cities have been tackling air quality head on, through steps like promoting cleaner cars and putting pollution controls on large sources like power plants.

Also relying on data from Numbeo, Spotahome put Hamburg, Germany and Vilnius, Lithuania at the top of the list for green space, with Chicago as the top U.S. city at 24. Research has consistently shown that availability of parks and plant life not only translates to healthier residents, but also happier ones, making a more appealing city for health-conscious residents.