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This is America’s healthiest city, according to a new national fitness index

If you're not there, is your city making you unhealthy?

Erika Mailman
Written by
Erika Mailman
California and USA contributor
Arlington, Virginia
Shutterstock | Arlington, Virginia
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Where you live may have a dramatic effect on your health—including a number of varying factors like clean air days, the number of places where you can exercise and how many of your fellow residents have diabetes.

You might not have heard of the American College of Sports Medicine’s American Fitness Index, established in 2008, but it’s an important look at how our country stands in terms of wellness. It annually ranks our 100 largest cities in terms of healthy infrastructure, residents’ physical fitness and other components relating to a healthy quality of life.

And this year’s ranking names Arlington, Virginia as the nation’s healthiest city...for the eighth year in a row. These Arlingtonians must be doing something right!

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In Arlington, according to the study, 67.2-percent of people are in excellent or very good health, as compared to 47.8-percent of the rest of the country. More than 75-percent of residents sleep more than seven hours a night, and only 3-percent smoke. The city is covered in an extensive network of trail systems for healthy walks or bike expeditions in nature and has a ton of parks and green spaces.

So how did the rest of us schlubs fare? Check out these other highlights from the study:

  • San Francisco wins for the most people having exercised the previous month
  • Boston wins for the most people biking or walking to work
  • New York wins for the most people using public transportation
  • Port St. Lucie, Florida wins for most good air quality days
  • Minneapolis has the best bike score and the most ball diamonds and rec centers proportionally
  • Madison, Wisconsin has the best parks-per-person ratio
  • Boston and San Francisco tie for having the most parks within a 10-minute walk
  • San Francisco has the best overall walk score
  • Washington, D.C. has the most trails miles per 100,000 residents
  • Norfolk, Virginia has the most basketball hoops per 10,000 residents
  • Cincinnati has the most playgrounds per 10,000 residents
  • Boston has the most splash pads per 100,000 residents
  • Cleveland has the most swimming pools per 100,000 residents
  • Richmond, Virginia has the most tennis and pickleball courts per 20,000 residents
  • Irvine, California has the highest park expenditure per resident
  • Washington, D.C. wins for the most people eating two or more fruits a day
  • Lexington, Kentucky wins for the most people eating two or more vegetables a day

And on the other side of the issue:

  • Lexington has the most people reporting poor physical health in the last month
  • Miami has the most people reporting poor mental health in the last month
  • San Francisco struggles the most with obesity and high blood pressure
  • Lubbock, Texas has the most people with asthma
  • Laredo, Texas has the most people with angina, coronary heart disease and strokes
  • Denver has the most people with diabetes
  • Boise, Idaho has the most traffic fatalities
  • Chesapeake, Virginia has the most people with food insecurity

So, how is your hometown's health looking?

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