Minneapolis-St. Paul, Washington, DC, and Boston are the top three fittest urban areas in the US, while Oklahoma City, Louisville, and Memphis scored the lowest. Wealth and education correlate with fitness, but not temperature. Colorado has the lowest obesity rate, while West Virginia has the highest. Northeastern and western states have the lowest obesity rates.
Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota is the fittest urban area in the United States, followed by Washington, DC and Boston. The rankings, compiled by the American College of Sports Medicine, look at a city’s smoking rate, percentage of regular smokers, chronic health problems and even the number of farmers’ markets a city has. The cities that scored lowest in the rankings were Oklahoma City, Louisville and Memphis.
Learn more about fitness in America:
Fittest cities tend to be wealthier and better educated, but contrary to popular belief, there is no distinguishing correlation between an average hot city temperature and its fitness. Sunny Los Angeles, while stereotypically filled with fit people, actually ranks 41st out of 50 metropolitan areas ranked.
In terms of states, Colorado is the only state with an obesity rate below 20 percent. West Virginia is the state with the highest obesity rate, at about 35%. In 38 of the 50 states, more than a quarter of people are considered obese.
People in northeastern and western states tend to have the lowest obesity rates.
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