It’s worst-case scenario for Philly in national health rankings

Men’s Health and Women’s Health magazines have just published their “100 Best and Worst” cities for men and women. Philadelphia came in dead last for women and 99th for men.

Philadelphia has made another embarrassing appearance on a list of national health rankings.

Men’s Health and Women’s Health magazines have just published their “100 Best and Worst” cities for men and women. Philadelphia came in dead last for women and 99th for men.

The magazines look at various criteria such as smoking, life expectancy and crime statistics to rank cities. The editors said Philadelphia lost major points for fitness rates and quality of life.

Matt Marion, deputy editor, said it’s good for a city to know where it stands in relation to the rest of the country. “Really we hope even cities that finished low, like Philly, will take this as kind of a challenge to improve and say ‘OK great, we’ve identified some problems areas, what can we do.’ What people can do individually and what can the city do as a whole.” he said.

Marion said data from the U.S Census and FBI are used to formulate the list.

Ann Mahlum is the founder of Back on my Feet, an organization that uses fitness to inspire the homeless.  She said she doesn’t think the ranking will inspire many new health buffs. She said personal motivation is the driving force behind change.

“Those polls can obviously make people mad because they have an affinity for their city and people are picking on their city,” she said. “But, if you’re not making the effort and you want to make an effort to get healthy, then that’s something personal you need to work on and work toward.”

Plano, Texas, and St. Louis  were awarded the top spots.