This MD City Named To 'America's Fittest City' List

MARYLAND — Only one Maryland community is ranked among the top 100 for “America’s Fittest City” as selected by the American College of Sports Medicine and the Elevance Health Foundation.

ACSM and Elevance Health looked at the 33 indicators for 100 of America's largest cities to determine the Fitness Index results. This year's rankings show that more Americans are walking and biking to work. In addition, park expenditures are up and food insecurity has improved slightly.

“As an organization that is committed to, connected to, and invested in our communities, the Elevance Health Foundation has pledged to strengthen our communities and address health inequities in our country," said Shantanu Agrawal, M.D., chief health officer of Elevance Health. "Similarly, ACSM works to extend and enrich lives through the power of movement. The Fitness Index is the intersection between our aspirational paths, bringing our unified visions to life as we provide practical resources to communities.”

The 10 fittest cities on America's Fittest City list are:

1. Arlington, Virginia
2. Washington, DC
3. Seattle, Washington
4. San Francisco, California
5. Madison, Wisconsin
6. Minneapolis, Minnesota
7. Denver, Colorado
8. Atlanta, Georgia
9. Irvine, California
10. St. Paul, Minnesota

The only Maryland city to score on the 2024 Fitness Index is:

• Baltimore was ranked No. 58 overall with a ranking of 77 for personal health and 22nd for community environment.

Two cities in the Baltimore-Washington, D.C., region also made the list.

• Arlington ranked first in community/environmental indicators and placed fourth in personal health indicators. Despite ranking fourth in personal health indicators, Arlingtonians posted the highest rate of exercising in the previous month (87.8 percent). Arlington residents were first in sleeping seven or more hours of a night and had the lowest percentage of smoking (3.4 percent) on the list.
• Washington, D.C. residents ranked the best at eating their fruits and vegetables. District residents were also second among those who eat two or more fruits a day (37 percent) and were second best among residents of cities in consuming three or more vegetables a day (21.4 percent), according to the index. DC also ranked among the top five cities in exercising in the previous month, use of public transportation and biking/walking to work.

The full rankings and scores on the 2024 Fitness Index are available online.