Arlington Named 'America's Fittest City' For 5th Consecutive Year

ARLINGTON, VA — Arlington County has been named “America’s Fittest City” for the fifth consecutive year in the annual American Fitness Index rankings published by the American College of Sports Medicine and the Elevance Health Foundation.

This is the first time in the 15 years of the fitness index that a jurisdiction has earned the No. 1 designation five times. Arlington ranked first in six indicators and scored among the top 10 cities in 19 of the 34 categories.

The ACSM/Elevance Health Foundation Fitness Index evaluates population centers using 34 evidence-based indicators.

"In 2022, America’s Fittest City is Arlington, Virginia, which has occupied first place for the past five years. It is a testament to Arlington’s residents and officials that they have been able to maintain such a high quality of life in their community," Shantanu Agrawal, chief health officer of Elevance Health, said in the introduction to the report, released Tuesday. "Arlington serves as an instructive model for cities working to improve their Fitness Index rankings."

Rounding out the top 10 fittest cities behind Arlington were Madison, Wisconsin; Minneapolis; Washington, D.C.; Seattle; Irvine, California; Portland, Oregon; St. Paul, Minnesota; Denver; and Chicago.

“Congratulations to those city leaders and planners who led efforts to develop parks and playgrounds, build bike paths and safe streets, and offer a built environment that encourages physical activity,” Agrawal said.

At the other end of the list, Oklahoma City ranked the worst overall at No. 100, followed by, in ascending order, Louisville, Kentucky; Indianapolis, Indiana; Tulsa, Oklahoma; and North Las Vegas, Nevada.

The study looked at the 100 most-populated U.S. cities.

The Fitness Index aims to offer city leaders helpful research to make potentially life-changing decisions in policy, systems and environmental change strategies that drive fitness and health improvements in their communities.

On average, 39.6 percent of residents in the Fitness Index cities reported poor mental health. Research has shown, though, that physical activity to be effective in preventing and reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression, improving mood and self-esteem, and improving quality of sleep.

“We found that cities ranked in the top 25 tended to score well in personal health indicators; however, there was one exception — mental health. Four cities in the top 25 also ranked among the cities with the poorest mental health,” said Stella Volpe, chair of the American Fitness Index Advisory Board.

“Increases in physical activity are likely to help reduce the mental health burden,” said Volpe. “This underscores the need for local community leaders to step up and make bold spending choices, policy decisions and infrastructure changes to increase opportunities for residents to be physically active and healthy.”

RELATED: See Where Arlington Ranks In New Fittest Cities List