Arlington, Virginia, and D.C. are ranked the top two cities in the nation in the 17th annual American College of Sports Medicine Fittest Cities Index.
“Arlington, Virginia — this is the seventh year in a row that they were first,” said professor Stella Volpe, head of the department of Human Nutrition Foods and Exercise at Virginia Tech and president of the American College of Sports Medicine.
To develop the rankings, researchers evaluate personal health scores, like smoking rates and the number of diabetes cases. And the researchers evaluate a community-built environment — measuring how well a city accommodates its residents needs for physical activity.
“Places like Arlington and Washington, D.C., their walkability index is really high. D.C. and Arlington both have safe, open places for people to walk. Whether that’s walking to a restaurant, walking to get coffee or walking or biking to work, or maybe perhaps walking or biking to public transportation,” said Volpe.
Rounding out the top 5 on the ACSM American Fittest Cities Index are Seattle, San Francisco and Madison, Wisconsin.
The group’s evaluation also found that residents in all of the 100 largest cities don’t exercise enough. The number of people getting an adequate night’s sleep has decreased and the index reports a rise in people reporting poor physical health and mental health.
“I can guarantee you that people who are more active definitely feel better … and likely have less sick days and likely also have lower health care costs,” said Volpe.
Arlington and D.C. make the top of the list for different reasons.
The study found that Arlington had the highest rate of residents exercising, 87.8%, and the lowest percent of smokers, 3.4%. Most Arlington residents (76.4%) are also apparently good at getting seven or more hours of sleep a night.
D.C. residents ranked highest for eating fruits and vegetables. The index showed they have the highest rate in the nation of consuming two or more fruits or vegetables a day, at 37.9%. District residents also rank among the top 5 cities for exercising, using public transportation and biking or walking to work.
“If you have a built environment that allows people to walk more, to bike more, et cetera, that will lead to better personal health scores, because people are going to be more physically active, if they have better access to places like farmers markets, that they can get more fruits and vegetables, those scores will be improved,” said Volpe.
She added “and those kinds of things are definitely more accessible in places like Arlington or Washington, D.C.”
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