Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach Outpace the Nation in “Living Well”
REDONDO BEACH, Calif. (February 2, 2026) – The Beach Cities of Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach scored historic highs on the Gallup National Health and Well-Being Index (WBI) despite national declines, indicating that the Beach Cities continue to be among the healthiest places to live in the nation. Their combined score of 69.5 in 2025 (the year for which statistics were calculated) was the Beach Cities’ highest ever and substantially outpaced the national average score of 60.1.
Notably, the 2025 Manhattan Beach score of 71.6 was the highest community measurement ever recorded by Gallup among the more than 1,500 community scores since WBI measurement began in 2008. The previous high was also recorded by Manhattan Beach with a 70.6 index in 2023.
The WBI surveys adults nationwide on five elements of well-being: career, community, financial, physical and social. These five anchors contribute to the overall WBI score; a high score means a life well-lived. The Beach Cities have had improvements in all five elements of well-being in the past 10 years, amid national declines.
“All those boats (the Beach Cities) are lifting, while the tide’s going down,” said Dan Witters, Gallup’s research director of the Well-Being Index. “The Beach Cities are outpacing the U.S. across most metrics, and their excellent improvement over time – despite a high starting point – has been impressive.”
Gallup, on behalf of Beach Cities Health District (BCHD), has administered the WBI nine times since 2010, the year that the Blue Zones Project® came to the Beach Cities. The 2025 WBI data was collected last fall and is weighted and adjusted based on demographic statistics and sample size.
The report also showed that awareness and public opinion of BCHD itself has improved over the past five years. Since 2020, awareness of the Health District has improved from 67% to 71%, with 57% expressing a favorable opinion of the District – a two-percentage point increase since 2020. Correspondingly, unfavorable opinions of BCHD have fallen from 4 percent in 2020 to 3 percent in 2025.
Blue Zones Project awareness is at an all-time high, as 50% of those surveyed said they are aware of the project – a community well-being initiative that brings together local stakeholders and international well-being experts to introduce evidence-based programs and changes to environment, policy, and social networks. Manhattan Beach leads the Beach Cities with 56% awareness of Blue Zones.
Among the other report’s other findings:
- Alcohol consumption has gone down in the Beach Cities since 2023 but is still 44% higher than the U.S. average with Hermosa Beach having significantly higher alcohol consumption than Redondo Beach.
- Mental health, loneliness and incivility metrics are unchanged from two years ago but remain considerably better than the U.S. numbers overall.
- Above normal weight in the Beach Cities has decreased by 15 percentage points since 2010, and is 35% lower than the U.S.
Witters, who has managed the WBI since 2009, presented the WBI findings to the BCHD Board of Directors Wednesday night, January 28. He noted the impressive trends that the Beach Cities have seen over time and compared to the nation.
“We have found household income to be the top predictor of well-being among individuals and large populations,” said Witters. “But highly affluent communities are proven to not be more likely to improve over time than other communities – improvement comes from other factors. This makes the improvement in the Beach Cities’ score impressive – since 2015, the Beach Cities have outperformed the nation in all well-being indicators, while the national trend has seen scores fall.”
Significant daily stress (45.9%) has decreased by close to six points since 2010, and is now 1.6 points better than the overall U.S. rates. In 2010, the Beach Cities scored 5.9 points worse than the U.S. for daily stress.
Still, the report cited areas of improvement, including:
- High cholesterol – High cholesterol increased 25% since 2023 and is now on par with the U.S.
- Physical Health – Reports of “Physical health is near perfect” fell 4.7 points to 46.5%, while in 2023 more than half of respondents (51.2%) agreed
- Leader in Your Life – Only 34% of residents agree that there is a leader in their life that creates enthusiasm for the future, which does not exceed national levels.
“Data from the WBI gives us insights into the well-being of the Beach Cities community and informs our programs and decision-making process,” said Tom Bakaly, BCHD CEO. “With this data, BCHD’s programming will continue to emphasize social connection and the development of empathy, kindness, and gratitude, and we’ll also offer opportunities to connect through community events, services, and spaces. While this WBI data shows our community is doing well, we are aware there is more work to be done, and BCHD is committed to continuing to improve the health of residents in our community.”
For more information about the Beach Cities WBI scores, please visit www.bchd.org/impact.
