A 2009 survey of 187 U.S. metro areas found that Des Moines and Cedar Rapids ranked third and fourth, respectively, in providing basic necessities to their residents.

Using a 13-item measure of Americans’ access to basic necessities in the cities or areas where they live, Gallup Inc. and Healthways conducted the study, which is based on telephone interviews conducted Jan. 2 to Dec. 29, 2009, with more than 353,000 adults.

According to the survey, Holland-Grand Haven, Mich., and Madison, Wis., were the top two metro areas in providing basic necessities, such as safe places to exercise and easy access to fresh fruits and vegetables.

The survey also said that Cedar Rapids residents top the nation in having enough money for health care and having visited a dentist in the past 12 months.

Gallup and Healthways said an important link exists between meeting residents’ basic needs and crime levels. Citing FBI crime statistics from 2008 and past survey data, the organizations determined that metro areas with the best scores consistently had lower violent crime and property crime rates than those with higher scores.

Middle-income metro areas with bottom-third basic-access scores had 77 percent higher violent crime rates and 41 percent higher property crime rates than wealthy top-third metro areas.