Sticking to New Year’s resolutions is hard, and even more so if a person resides in a city, like Riverside, where fulfilling some of the more common ones can be challenging, according to results of a study released Tuesday by WalletHub.com.
The financial services site’s “2018’s Best & Worst Cities for Keeping Your New Year’s Resolutions” evaluated 182 urban locations to determine whether and how well they accommodated resolution-keeping.
Riverside ranked No. 102 on the list.
“Your location may be setting you up for failure,” WalletHub spokesman Richie Bernardo said. “If you live in a neighborhood with no sidewalks or fitness centers nearby, for example, you may not feel as encouraged to exercise. The same goes if most of your restaurant options are limited to fast food: You may be less likely to eat healthy on days you dine out.”
“These might sound like excuses to the boldest resolvers, but they genuinely can impede a person’s progress at self-improvement,” he said.
WalletHub applied the more common resolutions in identifying which spots nationwide were most conducive to satisfying them. Included in the criteria were weight loss, debt reduction, making money, finding a partner and changing jobs.
The site relied on a variety of metrics to sort out ratings, such as the number of gyms per capita, the general employment outlook for the metropolitan area, the regulatory environment facing startup businesses, high school dropout and college graduation rates, crime levels and “fun opportunities” for singles and couples.
The top five locations were Seattle, San Francisco, San Diego, Scottsdale, Arizona, and Salt Lake City, Utah — in that order.
The bottom five were Detroit, Michigan, Jackson, Mississippi, Newark, New Jersey, Shreveport, Louisiana, and Gulfport, Mississippi.
The full list is available at https://wallethub.com/edu/best-cities- for-new-years-resolutions/28749/.
–City News Service