Originally published on Travel + Leisure.

9 Best Places to Live in the U.S. for a Healthy Lifestyle

These nine standout cities ranked highly for fitness, fresh food, healthcare, and plentiful green spaces.

By Lydia Mansel

Lydia Mansel is a writer with more than eight years of experience editing and writing for both brands and online publications—with a particular focus on travel, fashion, and lifestyle. She’s also the founder of the travel site justpacked.com. 

Published on March 1, 2026

If you’re someone who prefers to live in a place that values a healthy lifestyle, you’ll have to choose your home wisely—and a recent study from WalletHub has some ideas. After analyzing 182 U.S. cities and comparing them using 41 “key indicators of good health” across four categories (food, fitness, healthcare, and green space), the personal finance platform identified the healthiest cities in the country.

While the below cities were evaluated for things like farmers markets per capita, fitness and instruction centers per capita, family doctors per capita, and walking and biking scores, we also wanted to look at the destinations from a real estate and livability perspective. We spoke to real estate experts from these cities, polling them on the housing market, what it’s actually like to live there, and how the local wellness community supports a healthy lifestyle.

04of 09

Salt Lake City, Utah

A park with grassy fields trees and snowcapped mountains in the background

A football field surrounded by mountains in Salt Lake City.

Courtney Childers /Travel + Leisure

Fitness and green spaces are a big part of the reason Salt Lake City is ranked as the fourth healthiest place to live in the U.S. “Being surrounded by mountains, the Great Salt Lake, and desert, much of it public land, allows you to be in nature and wild spaces in minutes from virtually anywhere in the city,” says Shaun Jacobsen, an associate broker with Urban Utah Homes & Estates. “Mountain trails to hike and mountain bike on, renowned skiing, great roads for bicycling, and plenty of parks and tree-lined streets for walking are all a big part of the recreational appeal.”

Those looking to permanently (or semi-permanently) put down roots and invest in local real estate have options. "Salt Lake City has a wide variety of home styles and many great neighborhoods, each with its own distinct characteristics; choosing one has a lot to do with how you want to live day-to-day,” says Jacobsen. “Proximity to parks, urban trails, foothill trailheads, and bicycle/pedestrian pathways make many neighborhoods popular. Just being close to the city center, universities, historic architecture, or the ski areas can dictate many people's choices of where to live."

Visit Salt Lake (VSL) is the private, nonprofit Destination Sales & Experience Organization (DSXO) dedicated to recruiting, retaining, and activating conventions, meetings, sporting events and leisure travel that fuels the region’s visitor economy. In partnership with Salt Lake County, hoteliers, members and public-sector stakeholders, VSL helps generate $6.15 billion in annual visitor spending, $575 million in direct tax revenue and $1,700 in household tax savings while supporting more than 56,000 jobs. By championing Salt Lake's authentic urban-meets-mountain identity, VSL creates transformative experiences that benefit the community and visitors alike. For more information, visit www.VisitSaltLake.com.