A survey of America's largest 50 cities looking for the "fittest city," based on how well the fitness and recreational needs of its residents are being served, has seen the nation's capitol top all others.
Washington, D.C., vaulted to the top of the American Fitness Index report by the American College of Sports Medicine, knocking Minneapolis-St. Paul off the throne it had occupied in the precious three straight years and down to second place.
The ranking tracks personal health levels by scoring both environmental and community indicators.
"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," AFI advisory board chair Walter Thompson said.
A panel made up of 26 health experts looked at positive and negative personal health measures such as the incidence of obesity, diabetes or smoking and an average city resident's consumption of vegetables and fruits.
Then they considered environmental health, as indicated by measures including the number of public parks, dedicated bike lanes and even farmer's markets.
The top five healthiest cities all recorded obesity rates less than 23 percent and smoking rates below 18 percent.
In the index-topping capitol, 81 percent of people engaged in some kind of physical activity in the last 30 days and fewer than 22 percent were obese, the study found.
Surveying access to parks, the index found Washington spends almost $400 per resident on city parks; in comparison, Memphis -- which sits last at number 50 in the rankings -- spends just $26 per dweller.
Geographical differences were noted in the index; of the top 10 cities six are on the West Coast, with the Midwest placing just one, and the South coming up empty.
The full list of the top ten comprises Washington on top followed by Minneapolis-St. Paul, Portland, Denver, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, San Diego, Boston and Sacramento.
Three cities managed to move into the top 20 in the index for the first time; Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Atlanta.
In doing so, they knocked Baltimore, Virginia Beach and Cleveland out of the top 20.
Bringing up the rear at the foot of the list were Oklahoma City, Louisville and Memphis.
The study authors acknowledged the differences between many cities were marginal and all had strengths worth imitating and weakness deserving of attention.
The Wellpoint Foundation provided the funding for the annual fitness investigation.
