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It's always fun to see when WalletHub comes out with one of these rankings for cities across the United States. Sometimes Lubbock does pretty well, other times, not so much. Basically anytime the study has to do with health, Lubbock ranks near the bottom of cities surveyed.

Is Lubbock really that unhealthy or is it just the way WalletHub and other sites actually gather data and which data they look at? The truth is, it's probably a little of both.

For instance, one category WalletHub used to judge Lubbock was "Food." This category gave points for such things as "Gourmet Specialty-Food Stores," "Share of Residents Who Say They Eat Healthy," which is an opinion, not a fact, and the number of "Health Restaurants," which means vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free establishments. That section alone probably sank Lubbock.

WalletHub also judged Lubbock on green space and activities:

  • Parkland Acres per Capita: Full Weight (~3.13 Points)
  • Quality of Parks: Full Weight (~3.13 Points)
    Note: This metric measures “parks spending per capita” as a proxy for “parks quality.”
  • Hiking Trails per Capita**: Full Weight (~3.13 Points)
  • Walk Score: Full Weight (~3.13 Points)
  • Bike Score: Full Weight (~3.13 Points)
  • Physical-Activity Access: Full Weight (~3.13 Points)
    Note: This metric measures the percentage of the population with adequate access to locations for engaging in physical activity.
  • City “Greenness”: Full Weight (~3.13 Points)
    Note: This metric is based on WalletHub’s "Greenest Cities in America" ranking that encompasses environmental metrics like air quality or “green” transportation.
  • Recreation Access: Full Weight (~3.13 Points)
    Note: This metric is based on WalletHub’s "Best & Worst Cities for Recreation" ranking.

Sure, Lubbock has some hiking trails, but not many when compared to other places. Plus, Lubbock is pretty flat. Where are you gonna hiking exactly? They also looked at how "walkable" a city is. We all know Lubbock is a city that drives, not walks. If they had looked at how clean the parks are, they may have been impressed...until it came out that the City of Lubbock hasn't cleaned a park bathroom since October 2021. That doesn't seem very healthy.

If you were wondering, Lubbock ranked 168 out of 182. It could be worse.

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