What's Good
- Mayor Greg Nickels sets a positive example, exercising as much as 4 days per week.
- He also participates in more fitness-related events than most mayors.
- According to the CDC, 21 percent of residents in Seattle area are clinically obese. The national average is 23.17 percent.
- According to Nielsen Media Research, TV viewers in the Seattle market spend 43 percent less time in front of the tube than average among cities in our survey.
- The CDC says 85 percent of adults are physically active, at least to the point where they're not putting their health at risk. That's the 3rd best score of any city in our survey. The national average for our survey was 76.35 percent.
- In a CDC survey, 85 percent of adults said they'd gotten at least some leisure time exercise in the past month. The average in our survey is 77 percent.
- Residents don't have far to go to get to their local parks: Seattle has 430 municipal parks, among the most of any city on a per capita basis, according to our exclusive survey of municipal park departments.
- Washington has "snack tax" laws aimed at reducing obesity and improving nutrition.
- Health-food stores are plentiful in Seattle: There's one for every 7,979 residents, handily beating the national average of 12,441.
- Washington is one of 28 states that participates in a CDC-sponsored program to reduce obesity and other chronic diseases.
- Seattle residents are 5 percent less likely than average to actually use their gym or health-club memberships, according to our comparison of membership trends and club use, including machine use, exercising with weights, cardio classes, yoga and martial arts, among others.
- On a per capita basis, Seattle has 36 percent more gyms and health clubs than average, the 9th highest in our survey.
- City dwellers here love baseball, and not just watching it on the tube . They are 81 percent more likely than average to play the game. For you stat fans, that's the 2nd highest participation rate in our survey.
- Seattle residents are 46 percent more likely than average to go in-line skating. That's the 2nd highest in our survey.
- Seattle residents are 46 percent more likely than average to play tennis - the 3rd highest rate of any city in our survey.
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What Isn't
- Washington state law limits or prohibits obesity-related lawsuits against food manufacturers and restaurants.
- Air quality here is among the most unhealthful of any city in our survey, according to EPA air quality standards. Unhealthy air makes outdoor exercise dangerous.
- It rains 155 days per year in Seattle, discouraging outdoor exercise. That's the 2nd highest number of rainy days in our survey.
- On any given day in Seattle, there's a 17 percent less than average probability of sunshine compared to other cities surveyed.
- Prefer to lift weights 12 ounces at a time? You'll fit in better in Seattle than in most places. Per capita, there are 19 percent more bars here than the national average in our survey.
- Fast food, widely implicated as a contributor to obesity, is more common in Seattle than most places in our survey. In a per capita comparison there are 37 percent more fast-food joints here than average.
- Seattle dwellers are 51 percent less likely to participate in gymnastics, the 3rd lowest rate in our survey.
- Seattle residents are 18 percent less likely than average to use treadmills - the 3rd lowest in our survey.
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