New Year’s is a time to reflect on the past and plan for the future — what went well, what went wrong, and what you want to be different next year. Setting resolutions can be a way to make sure you meet your goals to have a better year than the one before. What we’ve found is that where you live can have an impact on your ability to achieve them. 

At Today’s Homeowner, stepped away from our usual in-depth content such as American Home Shield reviewsChoice Home Warranty reviews, and First American reviews to reflect on the past year and what the New Year might bring. We ranked the 100 largest cities in the U.S. on the four most common New Year’s resolutions: exercisehealthy eatingsaving money, and reducing stress. We then compiled those rankings to create our list of the Best Cities for Keeping New Year’s Resolutions. Read on for the complete rankings and methodology. 


Main Findings

Best Cities for Keeping New Year’s Resolutions

Overall Rank

City, State

Exercise Rank

Healthy Eating Rank

Saving Money Rank

Reducing Stress Rank

1

Scottsdale, AZ

52

2

6

18

2

Madison, WI

26

16

30

7

3

Jersey City, NJ

6

3

71

3

4

Anaheim, CA

4

1

85

1

5

Minneapolis, MN

15

41

35

6

6

Denver, CO

11

35

50

11

7

Aurora, CO

20

23

59

9

8

Irving, TX

59

4

5

43

9

Irvine, CA

21

6

81

4

10

Plano, TX

55

15

1

42

11

Boise, ID

50

14

23

31

12

Glendale, AZ

47

10

49

12

13

Santa Ana, CA

14

5

86

16

14

Chandler, AZ

71

9

3

49

15

Atlanta, GA

22

31

46

36

16

Mesa, AZ

51

11

36

38

17

Seattle, WA

5

82

41

8

18

Gilbert, AZ

69

8

2

58

19

Chula Vista, CA

29

12

73

29

20

St. Petersburg, FL

49

30

25

39

21

Lincoln, NE

58

57

21

14

22

Albuquerque, NM

54

37

26

34

23

San Jose, CA

16

45

63

27

24

Garland, TX

73

7

14

60

25

Saint Paul, MN

44

58

31

21

26

Portland, OR

19

59

62

15

27

Pittsburgh, PA

24

55

64

13

28

Austin, TX

35

47

22

54

29

Long Beach, CA

12

29

92

26

30

Washington, DC

13

78

48

20

31

Richmond, VA

36

28

68

28

32

Durham, NC

60

25

53

23

33

San Diego, CA

17

50

83

17

34

San Francisco, CA

3

95

66

5

35

Cincinnati, OH

48

26

58

44

36

Spokane, WA

46

92

29

10

37

Milwaukee, WI

27

49

70

32

38

Orlando, FL

43

18

65

56

39

Anchorage, AK

57

97

10

19

40

Omaha, NE

66

73

11

33

41

El Paso, TX

78

13

16

79

42

Sacramento, CA

31

51

80

24

43

Oakland, CA

9

86

90

2

44

Dallas, TX

33

22

54

81

45

Fremont, CA

30

71

40

50

46

Lexington, KY

75

27

24

67

47

Houston, TX

42

19

45

93

48

Henderson, NV

96

21

7

78

49

Phoenix, AZ

38

43

39

82

50

Buffalo, NY

32

62

87

22

51

Virginia Beach, VA

70

61

15

57

52

Nashville, TN

79

24

17

85

53

Riverside, CA

45

17

78

65

54

Wichita, KS

84

46

8

68

55

Hialeah, FL

23

34

98

52

56

Colorado Springs, CO

63

74

32

40

57

Greensboro, NC

67

40

60

45

58

Chicago, IL

10

81

72

51

59

Tampa, FL

53

36

56

69

60

Boston, MA

7

98

82

30

61

Cleveland, OH

41

42

93

41

62

Miami, FL

18

53

99

47

63

Raleigh, NC

68

77

28

48

64

Kansas City, MO

72

65

34

53

65

Chesapeake, VA

97

32

4

92

66

Fort Worth, TX

76

44

18

89

67

St. Louis, MO

34

89

67

37

68

Reno, NV

65

85

61

25

69

Laredo, TX

100

20

20

100

70

Fort Wayne, IN

87

67

13

80

71

Tucson, AZ

61

63

57

66

72

Philadelphia, PA

8

94

84

62

73

Charlotte, NC

74

48

33

95

74

Honolulu, HI

28

96

91

35

75

Los Angeles, CA

2

84

96

70

76

Newark, NJ

25

52

100

77

77

Baltimore, MD

40

69

76

73

78

Louisville, KY

83

54

27

94

79

Lubbock, TX

86

79

38

55

80

North Las Vegas, NV

91

33

52

83

81

Oklahoma City, OK

94

70

12

84

82

Arlington, TX

77

88

9

91

83

Columbus, OH

64

87

43

71

84

Winston–Salem, NC

90

38

51

86

85

Las Vegas, NV

80

56

55

75

86

Fresno, CA

39

83

88

59

87

Corpus Christi, TX

99

76

19

76

88

Tulsa, OK

93

75

37

72

89

Detroit, MI

56

66

95

61

90

New Orleans, LA

37

99

97

46

91

New York, NY

1

100

94

88

92

San Antonio, TX

82

64

42

98

93

Norfolk, VA

81

72

74

63

94

Indianapolis, IN

89

68

47

97

95

Memphis, TN

95

39

79

90

96

Toledo, OH

85

80

77

64

97

Baton Rouge, LA

92

60

69

87

98

Stockton, CA

62

90

89

74

99

Jacksonville, FL

98

93

44

99

100

Bakersfield, CA

88

91

75

96


Summary

The best city overall for keeping new year’s resolutions is Scottsdale, Arizona. Scottsdale scored high in three of the categories evaluated. It’s the second best city for healthy eating and the sixth best city for saving money. With all the factors combined, Scottsdale made the top spot.

Right behind Scottsdale is Madison, Wisconsin. Madison is a top contender for a place to live if you want to reduce stress and eat healthy — knockout two new year’s resolutions in one city. Rounding out the top five is Jersey City, NJ, Anaheim, CA, and Minneapolis, MN. 

Landing themselves in the very last spot is Bakersfield, California. When taking all factors into account, Bakersfield just doesn’t add up to the rest of the cities. The city scored in the bottom ten in almost every category evaluated. The other cities that join Bakersfield for the worst cities to live if you want to keep your resolutions are Toledo, OH (96), Baton Rouge, LA (97), Stockton, CA (98), and Jacksonville, FL (99).

And before you go, let’s talk about how much more easy it is to work on your New Year’s resolutions in a home where everything is working properly. That’s something we can all agree on. With that in mind, let’s talk about home warranties. A home warranty can protect you from costly repairs from systems and appliances breakdowns. So if you’re looking for some help with home repairs and maybe save a little money at the same time, consider a home warranty. Check out our in-depth reviews to see which one may be right for you — all of them offer free quotes! 


Methodology

To find the best and worst cities for keeping New Year’s resolutions, we found the average rank from our city rankings on:

  1. Eating healthy
  2. Exercise
  3. Saving money
  4. Reducing stress

Each ranking category was given equal weight and the cities were stack ranked based on lowest (best) average overall ranking score. Help with data collection for these studies was provided by Jake Ratliff. Methodology and sources for each ranking category can be found on their report page.

Editorial Contributors
avatar for David Cusick

David Cusick

David specializes in data, data journalism, and all topics related to homeownership. He’s won multiple national awards for content marketing and comes from strong background in journalism. His work has been featured in publications such as The New York Times, CNN, Buzzfeed, Business Insider, Good Morning America, ESPN, and many more.

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photo of Lora Novak

Lora Novak

Senior Editor

Lora Novak meticulously proofreads and edits all commercial content for Today’s Homeowner to guarantee that it contains the most up-to-date information. Lora brings over 12 years of writing, editing, and digital marketing expertise. She’s worked on thousands of articles related to heating, air conditioning, ventilation, roofing, plumbing, lawn/garden, pest control, insurance, and other general homeownership topics.

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