It’s official: Washington D.C. is the healthiest city in America. That’s large information for the Capitol, and for Minneapolis-St. Paul, which acquired demoted to #2 soon after holding the leading spot for 3 straight many years.
But what makes one particular city a healthy location to live, and one more the opposite? That’s what’s actually exciting about the American College of Sports activities Medicine (ACSM)’s considerably-anticipated 2014 report ranking the healthiest metropolitan places in America.
Exactly where is your city ranked? Read through on to uncover out.
Officially termed the American Fitness Index (AFI), the ranking assesses the “Health and Neighborhood Fitness Status of the 50 Greatest Metropolitan Areas.” It’s a information-crunching behemoth, using a very particular series of measures that get down to the nitty-gritty of how nicely a city serves the recreational overall health and fitness needs of its residents. (For an option actuality check, see America’s 10 Laziest Cities for the cities with the lowest general exercise ranges.)
Morning runners beat the summer season heat in Washington DC, now the healthiest city in America. (Photograph: Wikimedia)
Considering that my prior report on the Leading twenty Healthiest Cities, the AFI has changed some of the elements that go into making its calculations. This yr, for example, a new variable was extra known as the Walk Score, although other variables were eliminated. This tends to make it more difficult to make direct comparisons.
Nevertheless, some critical aspects matter yr after 12 months for illustration, all five of the healthiest cities boasted obesity prices beneath 23 percent and smoking prices below 18 %. (Just 10 percent for San Francisco and 13 percent for D.C.)
And as a snapshot of accomplishment, 81 percent of men and women in Washington D.C. did some sort of physical activity in the final thirty days and fewer than 22 % are obese. Residents’ costs of heart condition, diabetes, asthma, and standard health are also crucial.
But what sets the AFI ranking apart from other national metrics that track personal wellness behaviors is the scoring based on local community and environmental indicators.
“The AFI information report is a snapshot of the state of health in the community and an evaluation of the infrastructure, local community assets and policies that inspire healthful and fit lifestyles,” said Walter Thompson, chair of the AFI’s advisory board.
So there you have it: The crucial to who wins and who loses in this distinct competition is infrastructure. The AFI’s mission is to motivate cities to prioritize the health of their residents and invest and make enhancements accordingly. So a city that just happens to have plenty of gym-going, veggie-consuming residents (consider New York) is not automatically going to price, since the city’s culture and politics are not at function supporting residents in producing health and life-style modifications.
As just 1 illustration of this, let’s look at parks. Very first location winner Washington spends $ 398 per resident on its parks as in contrast with Memphis, last ranked at #50, which spends just $ 26 per resident.
To wit, mentioned Thomas: “Health advocates and neighborhood leaders have come to assume the arrival of the American Fitness Index as an yearly check-up relating to their community’s overall health and fitness amounts.” In other words, Memphis, construct some parks and recreational centers.
Who Won, Who Misplaced, in 2014?
New to the top ten is San Diego, which is ranked the 8th healthiest city, up from 14th last 12 months. Gone from the leading 10 is Hartford, last year 9th on the list, now down to 12th. But the bulk of the cities on the list have been there before, some simply swapping spots with a rival. Since 2013 Boston dropped from 6th to 9th place, Denver dropped one spot from 4th to 5th. San Jose rose from 10th to 6th.
A single point is clear the west is winning the healthful lifestyle war. With the addition of San Diego, 6 of the best 10 cities are now on the West Coast. The Midwest boasts just one particular city in the best 10, the south not one.
Top 20 Healthiest Cities In America 2014
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