It can be hard to keep your New Year’s resolutions, but it may not be entirely your fault.
A new study found that where you live can play a part in either aiding or preventing you from keeping those resolutions you may have recently set.
And for those in Atlanta, there's some good news. The city ranks among the best places in the country for keeping New Year's resolutions, according to personal finance website WalletHub.
In order to determine where Americans are most likely to keep their resolutions, WalletHub compared more than 180 across the country.
The report ranked the city on a variety of factors relating to:
- Health resolutions
- Financial resolutions
- School and work resolutions
- Bad Habit resolutions
- Relationship resolutions
Each of those categories were considered based on metrics such as fitness centers per capita, average cost of a monthly gym membership, debt to income ratio, homeownership rate, high school drop out rate, median annual income and more.
“If you live in a neighborhood with no sidewalks or fitness centers nearby, for example, you may not feel as encouraged to exercise,” according to WalletHub. “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.”
You can take a look at the full methodology here.
So how did Atlanta fare? Among 182 cities, Atlanta came in at No. 11 for best cities for keeping New Year’s resolutions.
Let’s take a look at the city’s score breakdown:
Overall rank: 11
Total score: 63.40
Health resolutions rank: 28
Financial resolutions rank: 77
School and work resolutions rank: 42
Bad Habit resolutions rank: 23
Relationship resolutions rank: 10
Atlanta failed to crack the top 10, trailing San Diego; Scottsdale, Arizona; San Francisco; Seattle; San Jose, California; Austin, Texas; Plano, Texas; Salt Lake City; and Fremont, California.
Studies show that the likelihood of failing to keep resolutions can be as high as 80-90%. But, stay strong, Atlanta
— the numbers are in your favor.
