Study puts Modesto in bottom third of cities for keeping resolutions

Santa’s not the only one who knows if we’ve been naughty or nice. Researchers with the personal-finance website WalletHub also have looked at whether we’ve been good or bad – about sticking to New Year’s goals.

In a comparison among the 150 most populated U.S. cities, Modesto ranks 105th on the list of the “Best & Worst Cities for Keeping Your New Year’s Resolutions.” (Salt Lake city was first; Detroit was last.)

Cities were examined across five key areas:

1) Weight Loss & Fitness Resolutions

2) Financial Resolutions

3) Education & Employment Resolutions

4) Bad-Habit Resolutions

5) Relationships & Family Resolutions

Number crunchers then evaluated those dimensions using 48 relevant metrics, among them adult obesity, debt delinquency, high school dropout rate, smoking rate and illicit drug use.

Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with 100 representing the most favorable conditions for achieving one’s New Year’s goals. Some data were available only at the state level.

Finally, WalletHub calculated the overall score for each city using its weighted average across all metrics and used the resulting scores to rank the cities accordingly.

Modesto’s highest ranking among the five key areas was in weight loss and fitness, where it was 71st. Its lowest was in education and employment, where it was 111th.

To see the report, go to https://wallethub.com/edu/best-cities-for-new-years-resolutions/28749.

This story was originally published January 3, 2017 at 7:40 AM with the headline "Study puts Modesto in bottom third of cities for keeping resolutions."