CNNMoney's Best Places Rankings

[bartron]

While digging up info on SLC as a result of a job opportunity in American Fork (Utah), I came across the Best Places rankings on CNNMoney's site. I had seen a few people (not here on BOL) swear by it, claiming it was the most accurate from their experience.

So I checked it out. They have categories for Most Singles, Youngest, Job Growth, etc. They also have one for the towns with the skinniest people, which they define as those with the lowest BMI (body-mass index). http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2006/top25s/skinniest.html

Now here's the shocker: Houston is ranked #3 in the skinniest towns category !! WTF !?!?! From what I had gathered from friends who had been to Houston, various articles and not to mention Morgan Spurlock's documentary that Houston was the fattest town in the country.

So, how accurate is that ranking ? Are the people of Houston the fattest or third skinniest ?

'later...

[kjl]

Heh, I just clicked on "pricey homes". Ouch.

Except for #2 and #8, all the top 20 are California, and 11 of those are within ~50 miles of me :(. Stupid Bay Area. Spend half a million dollars on a house and you still end up with a tiny dump.

edit:

Oops, sorry for the threadjack.

[kipstar]

While digging up info on SLC as a result of a job opportunity in American Fork (Utah), I came across the Best Places rankings on CNNMoney's site. I had seen a few people (not here on BOL) swear by it, claiming it was the most accurate from their experience.

So I checked it out. They have categories for Most Singles, Youngest, Job Growth, etc. They also have one for the towns with the skinniest people, which they define as those with the lowest BMI (body-mass index). http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2006/top25s/skinniest.html

Now here's the shocker: Houston is ranked #3 in the skinniest towns category !! WTF !?!?! From what I had gathered from friends who had been to Houston, various articles and not to mention Morgan Spurlock's documentary that Houston was the fattest town in the country.

So, how accurate is that ranking ? Are the people of Houston the fattest or third skinniest ?

'later...

Yeah weird that. My guess is that Houston has the largest number % of people defined as significantly obese, but also has enough skinny people (mostly non white presumably, maybe a lot of Asians?) that skew the overall average down. Could be age or some other factor driving the number down; perhaps a certain age group tends to have a lower BMI than other groups, and Houston has this group.

It is a comparison of the relative size of a small subset vs. average of the population. e.g. Thailand has a large number of millionaires or people driving Mercedes, but the average income per household is low.

That said, I would have guessed this to be odd; everthing i have heard about Houston is that the people are on average 'plump' and that is coming from cities like San Fran where I struggle to see too many people who aren't what I would call plump already.

I would rather see a % of women that have body fat of say less than 20% or similar rather than an average IF I understand your interest in such a number :-)

[Gleb]

Don't know much about houston but that site is pretty accurate from what I heard. Interesting stuff on it.

The "most educated" ranking lists 3 cities/towns in MA that are all next to each other. Its because after college, people don't leave boston for a while. Boston ranks high up there on the singles ranking too. Don't know if thats good or bad.

[gdboytyler]

Now here's the shocker: Houston is ranked #3 in the skinniest towns category !! WTF !?!?! From what I had gathered from friends who had been to Houston, various articles and not to mention Morgan Spurlock's documentary that Houston was the fattest town in the country.

So, how accurate is that ranking ? Are the people of Houston the fattest or third skinniest ?

'later...

Houston has an avg BMI of 24.8. That's not skinny. That's the upper range of the normal weight category. That would make for a lot of overweight people in Houston.

[bartron]

Yeah weird that. My guess is that Houston has the largest number % of people defined as significantly obese, but also has enough skinny people (mostly non white presumably, maybe a lot of Asians?) that skew the overall average down. Could be age or some other factor driving the number down; perhaps a certain age group tends to have a lower BMI than other groups, and Houston has this group.

It is a comparison of the relative size of a small subset vs. average of the population. e.g. Thailand has a large number of millionaires or people driving Mercedes, but the average income per household is low.

Good point. It hadn't crossed my mind.

I would rather see a % of women that have body fat of say less than 20% or similar rather than an average IF I understand your interest in such a number :-)

Busted ! :) Well, that's part of the reason, albeit a significant part.

'later...