Bottom Line, Great Falls Is The Most Unhealthy City In Montana

What's the most unhealthy city in Montana?

When deciding to move to a new city, most people look at job opportunities, salary, crime, schools and housing costs.

One thing some people don't think about is the health of a community.

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The health of a community can consist of several different factors from the quality of the local health care system, public health policy, culture, environment, and the economy.

All these together can either make a city more healthy when they are good, or unhealthy when they are poor or underfunded.

The website 24/7 Tempo set out to find the unhealthiest city in each state using the following eight health measures

• years of potential life lost before age 75 per 100,000 residents
• percentage of adults reporting fair or poor health
• average number of physically unhealthy days reported in the last 30 days
• percentage of live births with low birth weight
• percentage of adults who were current smokers
• percentage of adults reporting a body mass index of 30 or greater
• number of preventable hospital stays for ambulatory-care-sensitive conditions per 100,000 Medicare enrollees
• number of deaths due to injury per 100,000 residents

What makes Great Falls the unhealthiest city in Montana?

Great Falls might be the most unhealthy city in Montana when you look at these stats.

Adults in fair or poor health: 12.9% (state: 12.1%)
Adult smoking rate: 18.6% (state: 17.5%)
Adult obesity rate: 35.0% (state: 28.9%)
Median household income: $57,706 (state: $63,249)

However, when compared to the healthiest city in Montana, which is Missoula Montana, we are actually pretty similar.

Adults in fair or poor health: 10.2% (state: 12.1%)
Adult smoking rate: 14.2% (state: 17.5%)
Adult obesity rate: 26.4% (state: 28.9%)
Median household income: $66,803 (state: $63,249)

At the end of the day, we should all strive to be healthier for our friends and family, but we won't judge you if you want a second chocolate donut.