You wake up, walk into the bathroom, and turn to face the mirror. Wow, a lot has changed. Watching yourself age one morning at a time can be disorienting. Maybe you feel much younger than you look. Maybe signs of aging stir up anxiety or self-doubt. Whatever the case, it's natural--aging is a defining part of the human experience. Still, there are ways to slow the process down. Some methods, like injectables, get near-immediate results, while others require fundamental behavior changes measured over many months and years. There are certain lifestyle and health characteristics firmly linked to aging physical appearance. Not surprisingly, these characteristics also make up a foundation of systemic health and longevity that goes well beyond appearance. We recently conducted research on seven of these characteristics: binge drinking, obesity, lack of sleep, lack of physical activity, smoking, excessive sun exposure, and stress. We set out to establish regional trends, to report where in America people are holding off the harshest signs of age. In other words, the youngest-looking cities.

Key Findings

    • The top four cities with the youngest-looking residents are all near the west coast.
    • Baltimore is the city with the least amount of young-looking people.
    • 8 of the 10 youngest-looking cities are in the northern half of the country.
    • Obesity, poor sleep, and smoking are the most influential factors in the lowest-ranking cities.

The Youngest Looking Cities In America Ranked

While aging is beautiful and signifies a life you've lived, there's nothing wrong with wanting to delay a mature appearance. Maintaining a youthful look can also benefit your health, as many of the factors that impact your appearance, also impact your overall health. To determine which cities looked the youngest, we took into account factors from binge drinking and obesity to levels of physical activity and stress. By comparing the numbers against the national average, we ranked these 65 most populous cities with 1 being the youngest-looking and 65 being the least young looking. San Francisco ranked as the youngest-looking city in America, with San Jose and Seattle trailing not too far behind. The lifestyle habits residents of these cities have are more likely to give them a youthful appearance than residents anywhere else in the U.S.

The 20 Cities Where People Look The Youngest

As we take a deep dive into each lifestyle factor for each city, it's clear to see what the top cities are doing to maintain their youthful appearance. By holding the number one spot as the youngest-looking city, residents in San Francisco maintain below-average rates for binge drinking and obesity and have fewer sleep problems than the national average. They also stay more physically active, smoke less, and maintain healthier stress levels than the average American. However, the Bay Area is not alone. The same can be said for the other cities in the top four, which are all neighbors in the Pacific Northwest. In addition, many of the top ten cities are well-established tech hubs, including the Bay Area, Seattle, and Boston.

The 10 cities with the least young-looking people

According to the seven factors we analyzed, the cities below ranked as the 10 with the least young-looking people from the 65 cities in our study. Although Baltimore takes the number one spot, the cities that followed didn't fall far behind. Obesity, poor sleep, and smoking were the most influential factors in this list.

The Blueprint For A Youthful Appearance

The blueprint for maintaining a youthful appearance for longer can be found in the top young-looking states. Maintaining an active lifestyle appears to be a top priority with all but one of the cities on the top 20 youngest-looking list because they have a below-average number of residents who don't partake in physical activity. Other influential factors that the youngest-looking top five shares are good sleep habits, maintaining a healthy weight, and living a less stressed life than the average American (where stress is measured as a broad aggregate of stressors related to work, finances, family, health, and safety). As far as what not to do, the 10 cities with the least young-looking people can give you some guidance. Most of the cities have an above-average number of residents who are obese, have poor sleeping problems, and smoke.

Conclusion

If you want to naturally maintain your youthful appearance longer, there are specific lifestyle habits you should follow. However, a little outside help never hurts. At LaserAway, we pride ourselves on helping our patients feel confident and beautiful through skin rejuvenation and other non-surgical aesthetic treatments that take your skincare routine to the next level, at locations across the country. Schedule a free consultation today and prepare for youthful, rejuvenated skin!

Methodology

In January of 2023, we devised a proprietary scoring methodology to determine which of the 65 largest urban populations in the U.S. are likely to experience the most and least external signs of aging based on behavioral patterns. Our methodology is based on seven health characteristics known to affect external signs of aging, which we measured using recently published data from the CDC, the National Cancer Institute, the U.S. Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and a panel of academic experts commissioned by WalletHub. The following are the sources for each of our seven health characteristics: