...where disease is rare, life expectancy is high and everyone walks
By Cassidy Morrison Senior Health Reporter For Dailymail.Com
The healthiest city isn’t highly walkable New York, fitness-obsessed Los Angeles or even one of the outdoorsy cities in the Rocky Mountain states.
A small oasis outside of Washington, DC – Falls Church, Virginia — has the best markers for health and wellbeing.
The town is small – just 2.2 square miles – and is home to about 15,000 residents.
But people who live there, on average, live years longer than most Americans, suffer disease at a much lower rate and the vast majority walk instead of driving.
The life-expectancy of a Falls Church resident hovers around 77 years, while the national average is slightly over 75 years.
Falls Church Mayor Letty Hardi sang the town’s praises after US News officially crowned it number one on the Healthiest Communities list.
The active, social lifestyles of Falls Church residents mirror those seen in Blue Zones, areas of the world including Ikaria, Greece and Loma Linda, California where people tend to live up to 100 or even older.
Falls Church earned an overall score of 100 out of 100, with population health specifically scoring a 97, indicating people have easy access to healthcare, are in good physical and mental health, and have a low rate of illness.
Mayor Hardi said: ‘We have been embracing the urban planning concept of a “15-minute city,” in which a wide array of amenities are located within a 15-minute walk, bike ride or convenient public transit option.
‘In fact, 70 percent of our residents now live within a 10-minute walk of a grocery store, not to mention our weekly farmers market, diverse restaurants, gyms, parks, and civic and cultural life.’
A total of 29 of the healthiest counties are located in Virginia.
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