To develop the list, BabyFit.com compared 200 American cities with populations of at least 100,000 on 15 factors that impact pregnancy health. Some of the variables compared include: regional access to medical care, the average age of expecting mothers, healthy weight / body mass index scores, stress levels within the region, percentages of mothers who smoke, average birth weights and the incidence of certain medical conditions. BabyFit.com compiled the data from a variety of sources including the Centers for Disease Control, The National Women’s Health Indicator’s Database, The National Center for Health Statistics and other publicly available sources. Each of the 15 factors was weighted by their impact on pregnancy by a team of health professionals and pregnancy experts. From the weightings, the research team developed a formula that scored and ranked each city to find the top 100.

Learning of his city’s top 20 recognition, Akron Mayor, Donald L. Plusquellic said, "This is one of those areas at which we can never stop improving.  Our hope is expectant mothers will continue to heed the cautionary advice from the medical community and our own public health experts so that this ranking will continue to go up."

BabyFit.com, the company behind the study and the leading online healthy pregnancy planner, encourages healthier pregnancies and healthier babies by providing women with personalized, online healthy pregnancy programs as well as expert and peer pregnancy support. The Top 100 Cities for Healthy Pregnancies were named by BabyFit.com to discover which cities provide the best environments for healthier pregnancies and healthier babies, and to recognize them for their achievements.

Akron placed in the top forty for two healthy pregnancy indicators of the largest percentage of expecting mothers who receive prenatal care during the first trimester and the smallest percentage of mothers with anemia.

California ranked the highest out of the states with 20 cities in the top 100. California cities were also best for women not smoking during pregnancy, and all 20 California cities ranked in the top 50 for healthy birth weight.

This is not the first time Akron has been honored. Among its numerous awards, in 2004 Inc.com named Akron one of the "Top 25 Medium Cities for Doing Business." In 1999 Akron was honored with First Place by the United States Conference of Mayors in the City Livability Award Competition.

BabyFit.com founder Chris Downie commented on the project and the work still to be done by saying, "BabyFit.com is a very mission-driven organization, so we are always looking for new ways to help women have healthier pregnancies, healthier babies and healthier families. Now that we have a solid benchmark for identifying what the healthiest cities for pregnancy are doing well, hopefully we can inspire and help other cities achieve similar outcomes".