Downtown Los Angeles, Calif. (Photo courtesy Britannica)

(CNSNews.com) – When ranked by how residents rate their own health, Los Angeles is the unhealthiest big city in the United States, according to data recently released by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Between January and December of 2008, the federal Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System conducted telephone interviews with a random sample of 414,509 people 18 years and older nationwide. The survey asked respondents whether their general health was excellent, very good, good, poor, or fair. In the Dec. 10, 2010 issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the CDC published the results for 177 metropolitan and micropolitan areas in the United States.

In Los Angeles, only 77.2 percent said their health was good or better. That was a lower percentage than any other major metropolitan area in the country. In fact, there were only two metropolitan areas--Charleston,W.Va. and Huntington, W.Va.--where a smaller percentage of respondents said their health was good or better than made that claim in Los Angeles.

According to the Census Bureau, Los Angeles has the second largest population of any metropolitan area in the country and New York has the largest. Charleston and Huntington, W.Va., are the 153nd and 162nd largest metropolitan areas in the country, according to the Census Bureau, and are not major cities.

Among the largest 20 metropolitan areas in the U.S., Tampa ranked second after Los Angeles for the smallest percentage of people who said their health was good or better. Houston ranked third. Detroit ranked fourth.

Minneapolis ranks as the healthiest of the 20 largest metropolitan areas in the United States.  89.9 percent of the respondents in that northern city said their health was good or better.

UNHEALTHIEST BIG CITIES

Here are the 20 largest U.S. metropolitan areas ranked from worst-to-best by the percentage of residents who said their health was good or better:

Cities                    Population Rank        % w/Good or Better Health

1. Los Angeles                  2                                              77.2
2. Tampa                          19                                            82.8
3. Houston                        6                                              82.9
4. Detroit                          11                                            83.2
5. Philadelphia                  5                                              83.3
6. Riverside                      14                                            83.3
7. New York                      1                                              83.4
8. San Francisco               13                                            83.6
9. Phoenix                        12                                            84.4
10. San Diego                    17                                            85.1
11. St. Louis                       18                                            85.1
12. Dallas                           4                                              85.4
13. Chicago                        3                                              85.6  
14. Miami                            7                                              86.3
15. Atlanta                         9                                              87.0
16. Baltimore                      20                                            87.1
17. Boston                         10                                            88.3
18. Seattle                         15                                            89.0
19. Washington                  8                                              89.8
20. Minneapolis                  16                                            89.9

Only 2 of the 177 metropolitan areas on the CDC list had a lower health rating than Los Angeles, and neither was a major city. They were:

Cities                    Population Rank        % w/Good or Better Health

1. Charleston, W.Va.      153                                           75.4
2. Huntington, W.Va       162                                           75.5