How Tampa Bay Fares In Gallup’s Community Well-Being Rankings

SARASOTA, FL — When it comes to resident well-being only two metropolitan areas in Florida earned Top 10 honors in Gallup-Healthways’ annual State of American Well-Being report released Tuesday. Both are on the state’s west coast.

First-place honors in the rankings this year went to Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island, followed by Barnstable Town, Massachusetts, in second place. The North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton area came in sixth overall out of 189 ranked communities across the country.

Gallup’s annual report “analyzes how well-being varies by community, as well as who leads and lags across the five elements of well-being – purpose, social, financial, community and physical,” the report explains. The report is meant to be “as a call-to-action for communities around the country” to make improvements in areas that might impact resident well-being.

This is the second year the Naples area has scored first-place standing in the report.

To create its rankings, Gallup conducted more than 350,000 telephone interviews with adults across all 50 states between Jan. 2, 2015, and Dec. 30, 2016. Survey participants were asked questions about their lives and communities, related to Gallup’s “five elements of well-being.”

Here’s how other communities in the area fared in this year’s ranking:

• Lakeland-Winter Haven - 86
• Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater – 115

The Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach area bested many other parts of the state, coming in at 35th in the rankings. At the bottom of the list in 189th position is the Fort Smith area of Arkansas.

Gallup also released its state rankings on Tuesday, March 7. Hawaii earned first-place honors followed by Alaska. Florida didn’t quite make the Top 10, but it slid in right behind in the No. 11 position.

To check out the full report, visit Gallup-Healthways online.

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