Healthy Living Programs
Beach Cities Successes

The Beach Cities are a Certified Blue Zones Community

Thank you for being part of the Blue Zones Project® community well-being transformation in the Beach Cities!

The Beach Cities – Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach – were named a nationally certified Blue Zones Community® in 2016. The Beach Cities are the largest community to achieve Blue Zones Community certification through the successful implementation of Blue Zones Project, which launched in 2010 to make the healthy choice the easy choice for residents and employees of this community. 

The certification announcement comes on the heels of Gallup National Health & Well-being Index data. Since 2010, exercise has increased, obesity levels has been less than half the U.S. average, people who are “thriving” has increased and smoking has dropped compared to the U.S. Collectively, the Beach Cities earned a 2020 Well-Being Index score of 68.3 

Blue Zones Project in the Beach Cities is a partnership of Beach Cities Health District, Sharecare and Blue Zones, LLC.

Blue Zones Project in the Beach Cities: By the Numbers

INDIVIDUALS  |  Outcomes 24,000+ residents completed the Blue Zones Pledge and 3,000+ people completed community workshops  |  Impact: 77% of residents report thriving in daily life  |  42% decrease in smoking and 19% increase in exercise  |  29% decline in overweight residents

POLICY  |  Outcomes: $8.1 million secured for livability projects and adoption of comprehensive smoke-free policies in Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach

RESTAURANTS & GROCERIES  |  Outcomes: 100+ Blue Zones Project Approved™ Restaurants serving healthier options and 5 grocery stores committed to healthy shopping

WORKSITES  |  Outcomes: 14 employers adopted policies favoring health  |  Impact: 61% of residents like what they do every day

SCHOOLS  |  Outcomes: 6 Blue Zones Schools, student gardens and nutrition education, 37 Walking School Bus routes and subsidized healthy lunches  |  Impact: 25% of Beach Cities elementary school students walk to class

Gallup Well-Being Index
The Beach Cities of Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach continues to score high on the Gallup National Health and Well-Being Index (WBI) while well-being declines nationally coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2023 Beach Cities score of 68.0 outpaces the national score of 58.2. Notably, this year's Manhattan Beach score of 70.6 is the highest community measurement ever recorded by Gallup out of more than 1,500 community scores since WBI measurement began in 2008.

2023 Well-Being Index Results

Learn more about the health of the Beach Cities population in the Community Health Report 2022.

Copyright © 2021 Blue Zones, LLC and Sharecare, Inc. All rights reserved.