Arlington, Va. Is #1 ‘Fittest City’

Submitted by The American College of Sports Medicine….

2019 American Fitness Index Ranks 100 Cities;
New Indicators Reveal Concerns About Pedestrian Safety and Air Quality

Indianapolis (May 14, 2019) – Arlington, Va. has earned the title of “America’s Fittest City” in the annual American Fitness Index® ranking published by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and the Anthem Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Anthem, Inc.

The ACSM/Anthem Fitness Index evaluated America’s 100 largest cities using 33 health behaviors, chronic diseases and community infrastructure indicators. Rounding out the top 10 cities were Seattle, Wash.; Minneapolis, Minn.; San Francisco, Calif.; Madison, Wis.; Washington, D.C.; St. Paul, Minn.; Irvine, Calif. (new to the top 10); Denver, Colo.; and Portland, Ore. You can access the full rankings and scores, summary report, city comparison tool and other insights on the American Fitness Index website.

Setting the standard for other cities, Arlington’s balance of healthy behaviors and community infrastructure earned it the #1 overall rank. Arlington ranked in the top 10 for 22 of the 33 indicators in the ACSM/Anthem Fitness Index, with six indicators ranked #1, including residents exercising in the last month; meeting aerobic and strength activity guidelines; reporting good or excellent health; and having low rates of smoking, poor physical health and pedestrian fatalities. You can compare your city to Arlington or others ranked in the Index by accessing the online City Comparison Tool.

“Our research-backed Fitness Index rankings reveal both personal health habits within a community and how well those communities encourage fitness among their residents. It’s one more way we are working to improve the lives of our communities in which we live and work every day,” said Stephen Friedhoff, M.D., chief clinical officer for Anthem. “For example, we added new social determinant of health indicators to this year’s report and learned that some cities have work to do in the areas of pedestrian safety and air quality, which are both critical to overall wellness. Four of the 10 worst cities for pedestrian fatalities are in Florida, and we know air pollution rivals car accidents and tobacco when it comes to causing deaths.”

At the community level, the ACSM/Anthem Fitness Index is used as an assessment and evaluation tool to educate community leaders on the importance of key indicators of physical activity. Leaders can then focus on policy, systems and environmental change strategies that are evidence-based and create sustainability for their community. ACSM and Anthem agree that the Fitness Index provides cities with the data and resources needed to drive healthy change.

“We challenge city leaders, regardless of where their community ranks on the ACSM/Anthem Fitness Index, to take bold and decisive action toward building and maintaining infrastructures that promote fitness,” said Barbara Ainsworth, Ph.D., chair of the American Fitness Index Board and a regents’ professor in the College of Health Solutions at Arizona State University.

“Chronic diseases, sedentary lifestyles and pedestrian fatalities are at critical levels in our country, and city leadership can effectively address each of these challenges by becoming a fit city,” Ainsworth added.

Additional findings from the 2019 Fitness Index rankings included:

2.2 pedestrian deaths per 100,000 residents on average across all 100 cities with the worst city, St. Louis, reporting 5.8 pedestrian deaths per 100,000.
Nearly half of the 10 deadliest cities for pedestrians are located in Florida: Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville and St. Petersburgh.
The 21 worst cities for air quality are in California, Arizona and Nevada.
Cities have poor air quality an average 38.3 percent of the year.
75.2 percent of adults in all cities were physically active in the previous month on average, with only 51.2 percent meeting aerobic activity guidelines and 22 percent meeting both aerobic and strength guidelines.
97 percent of residents in the top 10 cities are located within a 10-minute walk to a park, but only 66.4 percent are within a 10-minute walk of a park in all 100 cities.
An average of 30.3 percent of residents in all 100 cities were diagnosed with high blood pressure, 3.3 percent with heart disease and 2.9 percent were diagnosed with a stroke.
Only 4.5 percent of residents in all 100 cities walk or bike to work, and 7.1 percent use public transportation to and from work.

The 2019 ACSM American Fitness Index rankings are as follows:

Overall Rank	City	State	Overall Score
1	Arlington	VA	87.3
2	Seattle	WA	77.9
3	Minneapolis	MN	76.4
4	San Francisco	CA	75.7
5	Madison	WI	75.3
6	Washington	D.C.	75.1
7	St. Paul	MN	69.5
8	Irvine	CA	69.4
9	Denver	CO	68.4
10	Portland	OR	67.8
11	Oakland	CA	67.7
12	San Jose	CA	67.4
13	Boise	ID	66.7
14	San Diego	CA	66.7
15	Chicago	IL	66.2
16	Pittsburgh	PA	66
17	Lincoln	NE	63.2
18	Long Beach	CA	62.5
19	Boston	MA	62.5
20	Sacramento	CA	61.9
21	St. Petersburg	FL	61.6
22	Atlanta	GA	61.2
23	Virginia Beach	VA	60.4
24	Santa Ana	CA	60
25	Milwaukee	WI	59.7
26	Honolulu	HI	59.5
27	Los Angeles	CA	59
28	Durham	NC	58.2
29	Chula Vista	CA	58.2
30	Raleigh	NC	57.7
31	Albuquerque	NM	57.5
32	New York	NY	57.3
33	Stockton	CA	56.9
34	Fremont	CA	56.8
35	Miami	FL	56.6
36	Newark	NJ	56.3
37	Anaheim	CA	56.1
38	Richmond	VA	55.7
39	Colorado Springs	CO	55.7
40	Aurora	CO	55.1
41.5	Orlando	FL	54.5
41.5	Buffalo	NY	54.5
43	Austin	TX	54
44	Plano	TX	53.2
45	Omaha	NE	52.7
46	Tampa	FL	52.3
47	Norfolk	VA	52.2
48	Nashville	TN	51.3
49	Reno	NV	50.9
50	Jersey City	NJ	50.9
51	St. Louis	MO	50.5
52	Baltimore	MD	50.4
53	Tucson	AZ	49.7
54	New Orleans	LA	49.3
55	Hialeah	FL	49.1
56	Greensboro	NC	48.2
57	Cincinnati	OH	47.9
58	Riverside	CA	47.6
59	Glendale	AZ	47.5
60	Lubbock	TX	47.4
61	Dallas	TX	47.4
62	Anchorage	AK	46.5
63	Philadelphia	PA	46.5
64	Fresno	CA	46.2
65	Cleveland	OH	45.9
66	Mesa	AZ	44.3
67	Kansas City	MO	43.6
68	Chandler	AZ	43.3
69	Scottsdale	AZ	43
70	Columbus	OH	42.6
71	Phoenix	AZ	41.9
72	El Paso	TX	41.8
73	Houston	TX	41.5
74	Lexington	KY	41.2
75	Charlotte	NC	41.1
76	Garland	TX	40
77	Jacksonville	FL	39.4
78	Irving	TX	39
79	Baton Rouge	LA	38.5
80	Laredo	TX	37.9
81	Winston-Salem	NC	37.4
82	San Antonio	TX	36.3
83	Gilbert	AZ	36.3
84	Chesapeake	VA	35.8
85	Las Vegas	NV	34.3
86	Fort Wayne	IN	34.3
87	Memphis	TN	33.8
88	Fort Worth	TX	33
89	Henderson	NV	32.6
90	Wichita	KS	31.6
91	Corpus Christi	TX	31
92	Arlington	TX	30.8
93	Detroit	MI	30.5
94	Bakersfield	CA	30.3
95	Louisville	KY	28.8
96	Indianapolis	IN	28.6
97	Toledo	OH	27.8
98	Tulsa	OK	27.8
99	North Las Vegas	NV	27.2
100	Oklahoma City	OK	20.8

About the American College of Sports Medicine
The American College of Sports Medicine is the largest sports medicine and exercise science organization in the world. More than 50,000 international, national and regional members are dedicated to advancing and integrating scientific research to improve educational and practical applications of exercise science and sports medicine. More details can be found at www.acsm.org.

ACSM is a global leader in promoting the benefits of physical activity and advocates for legislation that helps government and the health community make it a priority. ACSM encourages Congress to support continued funding of parks, trails and safe routes to school, to better enable all Americans to meet the prescribed physical activity recommendations included in the National Physical Activity Guidelines.

About Anthem Foundation
The Anthem Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Anthem, Inc. and through charitable contributions and programs, the Foundation promotes the inherent commitment of Anthem, Inc. to enhance the health and well-being of individuals and families in communities that Anthem, Inc. and its affiliated health plans serve. The Foundation focuses its funding on strategic initiatives that make up its Healthy Generations Program, a multi-generational initiative that targets: maternal health, diabetes prevention, cancer prevention, heart health and healthy, active lifestyles, behavioral health efforts and programs that benefit people with disabilities. The Foundation also coordinates the company’s year-round Dollars for Dollars program which provides a 100 percent match of associates’ donations, as well as its Volunteer Time Off and Dollars for Doers community service programs. To learn more about the Anthem Foundation, please visit http://www.anthem.foundation and its blog at https://medium.com/anthemfoundation.