Cities Where People Spend the Most and Least on Health Care

Scott LaFee
Tue, 06 Jan 2026 21:00:00 -0800
Lifestyle

There's a reason "health" and "wealth" rhyme. They may be the same thing.

The personal finance company WalletHub issued its latest survey of cities where people spend the most and least on health care. The company analyzed prices of five key health care components — average cost of a doctor, dentist and optometrist visits, plus price of ibuprofen and insulin glargine — in 100 of the largest cities.

The five cities with the lowest percentage of income spent on health care:
Updated: Wed Jan 07, 2026

There's a reason "health" and "wealth" rhyme. They may be the same thing.

The personal finance company WalletHub issued its latest survey of cities where people spend the most and least on health care. The company analyzed prices of five key health care components — average cost of a doctor, dentist and optometrist visits, plus price of ibuprofen and insulin glargine — in 100 of the largest cities.

The five cities with the lowest percentage of income spent on health care:

— Gilbert, Arizona (3.54%)

— Fremont, California (3.67%)

— Irvine, California (3.82%)

— Scottsdale, Arizona (4.00%)

— Huntington Beach, California (4.13%)

The five cities with the highest percentage of income spent on health care:

— Detroit, Michigan (13.17%)

— Cleveland, Ohio (11.35%)

— Newark, New Jersey (11.28%)

— Toledo, Ohio (11.03%)

— Birmingham, Alabama (9.97%)

Nationwide, the consumer price index for medical care has increased 11.8% over the past five years.

"As health care gets increasingly more expensive, more and more people find themselves struggling to afford essential services and medicines," said WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo. "While some cities have lower prices than others, the average income in many places still may not be enough to keep up with the costs, especially when consumers have also faced inflated prices across all other facets of their budgets over the past few years."

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