20 Best Cities Cooking Light Award Winners

In celebration of its 20th anniversary year, Cooking Light announced the winners of its “Cooking Light 20 Best Cities” Awards.  As part of a year-long tribute to the people, places, and things that have revolutionized American eating habits over the past two decades, the magazine will highlight the 20 best cities in America that encompass the finest in healthful cuisine and lifestyle.

What do these healthy cities have in common?

They offer abundant healthful choices for the people who live in them,” said Mary Kay Culpepper, editor in chief of Cooking Light. “From innovative restaurants to vibrant farmers’ markets to abundant green space and parkland, these cities exemplify the best of American healthy living.”

The Cooking Light 20 Best Cities in America are:

1. Seattle, Washington
2. Portland, Oregon
3. Washington, D.C.
4. Minneapolis, Minnesota
5. San Francisco, California
6. Boston, Massachusetts
7. Denver, Colorado
8. Milwaukee, Wisconsin
9. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
10. Tucson, Arizona
11. Baltimore, Maryland
12. Colorado Springs, Colorado
13. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
14. St. Louis, Missouri
15. New York, New York
16. Atlanta, Georgia
17. Austin, Texas
18. Chicago, Illinois
19. Las Vegas, Nevada
20. Kansas City, Missouri

Best Cities Award Criteria

Editors at Cooking Light chose the top 20 cities on the basis of residents’ access to nutritious food and opportunities for maintaining optimum physical health and well-being. Cooking Light ranked major metropolitan areas on 15 specific criteria, including healthfulness and exercise data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), restaurant ratings from the James Beard Foundation and the Zagat Survey, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s farmers’ market listings, parks and recreation data from the Trust for Public Land, and other quantifiable sources.  Each category was calculated on a per-capita basis for the comparison.