Washington D.C. has been named America's healthiest city, pushing St. Paul down to number two.
A new report from the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) ranked U.S. metropolitan regions by the health of their residents.
The report, titled "Health and Community Fitness Status of the 50 Largest Metropolitan Areas," looked at different region's "preventive health behaviors, levels of chronic disease conditions, and community resources and policies that support physical activity," an ACSM news release reported.
"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," Walter Thompson, Ph.D., FACSM, chair of the AFI Advisory Board., said in the news release. "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."
Some other rankings included: Seattle, Wash. at seven; Austin, Texas at 16; Los Angeles, Calif. at 19; New York, N.Y. at 24; and Memphis Tenn. at 50.
All five of the healthiest cities (including Portland Ore., Denver Colo., and Sand Francisco Calif.) had obesity rates below 23 percent and smoking rates under 18 percent. Eighty-one percent of people in Washington D.C. had done some kind of physical activity within the past 30 days, Forbes reported.
Last year ACSM received a $157,782 grant from the WellPoint Foundation that allowed them to present this data; the money will also go towards community-based projects aimed at improving health in Cincinnati, Las Vegas and Miami, the news release reported.
A 2011 WellPoint Foundation grant worked to improve population health in Indianapolis and Oklahoma City.
"As the founding sponsor, WellPoint Foundation is proud to provide continuing support for the ACSM American Fitness Index and its healthy lifestyle measurement and improvement endeavors," Lance Chrisman, executive director of the WellPoint Foundation, said in the news release. "The technical assistance program identifies actionable areas with the best evidence for improving health, focuses on doing the most good for the most residents - with a high priority on underserved populations - and works to make a community-wide impact quickly."
