This Is the Fittest City in the U.S.

Have you exercised today? If you live in Arlington, Virginia, there is a good chance you answered yes. The city located along the Potomac River is again named the fittest in the nation in the 17th annual American Fitness Index, released by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and the Elevance Health Foundation.

The prestigious report analyzes 33 health indicators, including chronic diseases and physical activity, recreational facilities, public policies, and environmental indicators, to rank America’s one hundred fittest cities.

While the Northern Virginian city, which has topped the yearly ranking since 2018, didn’t ace all categories, it had excellent scores in most.

“Arlington ranked first in community/environmental indicators. And, although it ranked fourth in personal health indicators, Arlington had the highest rate of residents exercising in the previous month (87.8%), had the most getting seven or more hours of sleep a night (76.4%), and the lowest percentage smoking (3.4%),” the report stated.

Earlier this year, Arlington’s public parks system was ranked the fifth best in the country based on size, access, investment, amenities, and equity. According to the Trust for Public Land’s ParkScore, 99 percent of Arlingtonians live within ten minutes of a park. The city received extra points for adding more playgrounds and for the variety of publicly available facilities like basketball hoops, splash pads, and dog parks.

Across the Potomac River from Arlington, Washington, D.C., is the second-fittest city in America. Residents in the nation’s capital have some of the healthiest eating habits, with 38 percent consuming two or more fruits a day, the highest in the country, and 21.4 percent eating three or more vegetables daily. Washingtonians were also in the top five for using public transportation, walking or biking to work, and regular exercise.

And Seattle won the bronze medal this year, with the report highlighting the city’s third-highest per capita investment in public parks. 

However, the report’s findings also show that Americans don’t exercise enough to meet the minimum ACSM standards of 22 minutes of “moderate-intensity aerobic activity” per day and muscle-strengthening activities twice weekly. There was a decrease in the number of people getting seven or more hours of nightly sleep and an increase in those self-evaluating in poor physical and mental health.

“Post-pandemic, Americans are not as active as we would like,” Stella Volpe, ACSM President, said in a press release provided to Travel + Leisure. “To help facilitate this, local community leaders must step up and make bold spending choices, policy decisions, and infrastructure changes to increase opportunities for residents to be physically active and healthy.”

Lexington, Kentucky, and Miami had the most significant jumps in ranking. The former gained 31 places since last year to claim the 49th spot, and the latter occupied the 13th position this year, an improvement of 26 places over 2023. 

The most pronounced negative position changes were for Tampa, Florida (losing 21 places to 45th) and Greensborough, North Carolina (dropping 18 places to 80th).

You can read the entire report on acsm.org.