How fit is your city? A new report from the American College of Sports Medicine’s (ACSM) American Fitness Index (AFI) looked at the 50 largest metro areas and ranked them based on health and community fitness. Number one on the list? The Washington D.C. metro area, which includes Arlington and Alexandria. Here’s the entire list:
1. Washington, D.C.
2. Minneapolis-St. Paul
3. Denver
4. Boston
5. San Francisco
6. Seattle
7. Portland, Ore.
8. San Diego
9. Austin
10. Virginia Beach
11. Hartford, Conn.
12. Sacramento
13. San Jose
14. Cincinnati
15.Atlanta
16. Pittsburgh
17. Milwaukee
18. Buffalo, NY
19. Baltimore
20. Raleigh, NC
21. Kansas City, MO/KS
22. New York City
23. Tampa
24. Cleveland
25. Chicago
26. Nashville
27. Philadelphia
28. Jacksonville
29. Columbus, OH
30. Los Angeles
31. Miami
32. Phoenix
33. St. Louis
34. Charlotte
35. Dallas
36. Indianapolis
37. Memphis
38. Louisville
39. San Antonio
40. Riverside, CA
41. Houston
42. Las Vegas
43. Birmingham, AL
44. Detroit
45. Oklahoma City
NR. Orlando, FL
NR. Providence, RI
NR. Richmond, VA
NR. Rochester, NY
NR. Salt Lake City, UT
Note: Cities marked NR were included in the index but not ranked due to lack of information.
Source: American Fitness Index
The Washington metro area scored well in the following:
- Percentage of its citizens who eat five or more fruits and vegetables per day
- Low percentage of smokers
- Lower percentages of people with chronic health problems like obesity, diabetes, angina or coronary heart disease
- High percentage of city land area for parks
- More recreation centers, tennis courts, park units and swimming pools
- Higher-level state requirement for physical education classes
- Higher-than-average number of primary health care providers
- High percentage of citizens using public transportation or bicycling/walking to work
Where I live – Columbus, Ohio – is #29. Come on, C-Bus – we can do better!
How did your city rank?
How interesting! Memphis is actually ranked here, and also ranked elsewhere as the fattest and least fit city. Given the number of folks out walking, running, and biking, I’ve often questioned the latter designations.
very interesting! I live outside of DC (in VA) and can say with certainty that we are nowhere near #1! We have to drive everywhere, we have very few parks and rec centers, and here’s the kicker—schools only have PE at the elementary grade level and it’s only ONCE every SIX days. Isn’t that crazy?
Maybe I should move to DC?
Cammy – Not sure if my post was clear… they looked at the 50 largest metro areas and ranked them based on fitness, etc., … so Memphis is ranked 37th out of those 50. Sorry if it came across as “the top 50 fittest”
Interesting, workout mommy – The report includes Arlington and Alexandria as part of the DC metro area – maybe they do more there?
…coming in at #17… I hope I’m doing my part to bring that number up! I was a slacker today, though, and didn’t bike to work (maybe it was the rain…).
Yes, Arlington and Alexandria are definitely more active.
My po-dunk little area doesn’t offer much. (just wrote a post about that today!)
How was your trip?
I guess my city is too small to rank (150,000. I’m sure we are very high on the fitness list. Due to the University, we are high on the drinking list also. I only contribute to the first ranking
What part of Columbus are they looking at? After living here for three years, I can tell it depends on the area. The people are quite fit in what I call dog-walking areas (Clintonville, etc.) and some areas have more parks and side walks. Other areas have horrible parking so it forces people to walk to go to hangout spots and restaurants. However, there is also a large poorer area of the city that has little parks, affordable rec centers, and the most affordable food is usually the least healthy, etc. that’s probably bringing our rank down.
It would be nice to use education and more affordable healthy food to increase the health in the communities that need it.
Well, KC is pretty good, but I’m afraid my Topeka, which is only an hour away is not in the same boat. It is amazing to me that a capital city can have so few public ammenities. Even Lawrence, that is smaller than Topeka has great places to exercise. Although I have been researching hard to find fitness activities to do in Topeka and have found some great outdoor trails at the McClennen Park and Iliff Commons. I had heard that trail running was addictive. Now I know it is. If you all havn’t tried it – you should. I never enjoyed running until I tried trail running!
…but what about the “chronic health problem” of HIV/AIDS. I heard that city has a high rate.
Lance – You bike to work? That’s awesome!
Dr. J – Glad you are contributing to the right list.
Hope – They looked at the “Columbus metro area” so I am assuming that includes Clintonville, etc., but like you said, I bet the areas without the parks and walking areas bring the ranking down.
stbeam – Glad you are loving trail running so much! That’s fantastic!
Yum Yucky – I don’t think that was included for this ranking.
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