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Arlington remains on top for the seventh year as “America’s Fittest City” in the annual American Fitness Index. Trailing right behind Arlington is Washington, DC.

Rounding out the top three in the rankings is Seattle. The three are the same as last year.

This is the 17th year the American College of Sports Medicine and the Elevance Health Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Elevance Health, published the rankings.

The fittest city rankings, which take 33 indicators into account, found that while Arlington had an overall score of 81.1 out of 100 and ranked first when it came to community/environmental indicators, it was No. 4 in personal health indicators.

Overall, this year’s Fitness Index results determined that more people are walking and biking to work, spending more at parks, and have reduced food insecurity. But, the downside is people aren’t exercising enough to meet minimum ACSM standards (at least 150 minutes per week of aerobic activity and muscle-strengthening activities twice a week) and they are not getting at least seven hours of sleep a night. 

ACSM President Stella Volpe said that Arlington and DC are both walkable with good transportation and biking lanes. Arlington scored a 99 for cities within a 10-minute walk to a park.

The fittest city ranking found that Arlington had:

• The highest percentage of residents exercising in the previous month (87.8%),
• The most getting seven or more hours of sleep a night (76.4%),
• The lowest percentage of smokers (3.4%). 

DC had the highest rate of consuming two or more fruits a day (37.9%) and the second best in consuming three or more vegetables (21.4%).

Three other Virginia cities made the top 100: Richmond at No. 28, Virginia Beach at No. 44, and Chesapeake at No. 81.

Feature image by Drazen/stock.adobe.com

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