Honolulu is the third-best U.S. city for women, according to SELF magazine.

Our fair hamlet is up a notch from last year's No. 4 ranking among 100 cities.

Among SELF's categories this year, we are No. 1 for least cancer; No. 2 for fittest and No. 2 for sexually healthiest.

The magazine found Honolulu to have among the 10 lowest obesity rates; it has among the five lowest cancer death rates among women; and the best score for safe sex practices.

Honolulu is not without negatives as rated by the magazine, however.

It has fewer than half the average number of health clubs per capita; Honolulu has a longer-than-average commute time of more than one-hour round-trip; and we have above-average drinking rates.

Your columnist must point out that our year-round outdoor activities might mitigate the low health-club ranking.

Besting Honolulu on the overall this year were No. 1 Bethesda-Gaithersburg-Frederick, Md., and No. 2, San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, Calif.

At the other end of the SELF spectrum were the bottom three: St. Louis, Mo., at No. 98; Gary Ind., at 99; and at No. 100, Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, Mich.

SELF reports that it and partner Sperling's BestPlaces analyzed about 8,000 bits of data in 50-plus categories, including death and disease rates, environmental factors, lifestyle habits and community resources.

The magazine collects data from several sources including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the FBI (for such statistics as rape and other violent crimes against women).

Detroit didn't fare well with the latter.

Honolulu's Least Cancer Deaths rating is in a category added to the list this year. SELF also added other categories and found the Healthiest Commuters in New York; the Healthiest Workplaces in Seattle and the Healthiest hearts in Minneapolis.

Since many of us came to Hawaii from points beyond, TheBuzz will include some highlights and low-lights of other hometowns.

Nashville, Tenn. is the least fit; the most migraines occur in Cincinnati; the dirtiest water is in Philadelphia; the cleanest environment is in Tucson, Ariz.; the most green buildings can be found in Grand Rapids, Mich., and the city that eats the most green salad is West Palm Beach, Fla.

Bet we'd make the “;eats the most mac salad”; category, if there were one.

The December issue will be on newsstands and online for another two or three weeks, according to a publicist.