Washington D.C. was named the fittest city in America in a report released by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).
During a recent press meet, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) released its 7th annual American Fitness Index (AFI) data report of the country's fittest cities. In the 2014 AFI report, Washington D.C. was announced as the fittest city in America.
The report is compiled annually using health data and lifestyle activities in different cities. This includes walking, rates of disease, smoking and amounts of park land as factors to determine the health of its residents.
"Health advocates and community leaders have come to expect the arrival of the American Fitness Index as an annual check-up regarding their community's health and fitness levels," said Walter Thompson, chair of the AFI Advisory Board in a press statement. "The AFI data report is a snapshot of the state of health in the community and an evaluation of the infrastructure, community assets and policies that encourage healthy and fit lifestyles. These measures directly affect quality of life in our country's urban areas."
Minneapolis; Portland, Oregon; Denver and San Francisco make up the rest of the top five. Nashville, Indianapolis, Oklahoma City, Louisville and Memphis take the bottom five spots.
The report also used vital information from the U.S. Census and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to provide legitimate and comparable data. To provide a baseline measure of health and fitness status, ACSM worked with the Indiana University School of Family Medicine and a panel of 26 health and physical activity experts on the methodology of the AFI data report.
In all five of the least healthy cities, for example, at least 20 percent of the population smokes. Meanwhile, all of the five healthiest cities had smoking populations below 20 percent.
The index "was created for communities to assess their level of health and fitness, assess areas that could use improvement, and to increase their scores over time," Thompson said.
Minneapolis topped the list in the 2013 AFI data report.
According to USA Today, with a grant from the WellPoint Foundation the American College of Sports Medicine will work with organizations in Cincinnati, Las Vegas and Miami to use the AFI report to help improve their communities' health efforts.
The foundation also funded this year's ranking report, at a cost of more than $150,000.
Click here to view other details of the 2014 AFI report.
