America’s Fittest Cities for 2009
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The American College of Sports Medicine just released a new list of the most healthy cities in the United States. At the top of the list is, and I couldn’t believe it either, our capital city Washington, D.C.
Using a variety of data comprised from sources including The U.S. Department of Agricuture, the Trust for the Public Land (non-profit), The U.S. Census Bureau and the CDC, the ranking was based on various personal traits. These ranged from the percentage of residents who are obsese, are smokers, eat at least five servings of fruit and vegetables per day and on the resources local to the cities inhabitants, such as the number of parks, farmer’s markets and health facilities. They also took into account larger issues like crime and poverty rate. To learn more about the actual metrics involved in this study, checkout the American Fitness Index.
Here’s the 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 1
19. Baltimore
20. Raleigh, N.C.
21. Kansas City, Mo., Ks.
22. New York City
23. Tampa
24. Cleveland
25. Chicago
26. Nashville
27. Philadelphia
28. Jacksonville
29. Columbus, Ohio
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, Calif.
41. Houston
42. Las Vegas
43. Birmingham, Ala.
44. Detroit
45. Oklahoma City
Some cities that were not ranked because community/environmental data were not available: Orlando; Providence; Richmond, Va.; Rochester, N.Y.; and Salt Lake City.
Themocracy