For the third year running, the Twin Cities鈥擬inneapolis-St.Paul鈥攚ere rated as the healthiest, fittest cities in the U.S. by the . At the bottom of the list, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Detroit, Michigan, checked in as least fit and the second least fit cities, respectively.
The annual index is based on smoking, exercise, obesity rates, chronic health problems, and access to health care. It also takes into account the availability of parks, recreation facilities, walking trails, and farmers’ markets.
“What Minneapolis has done brilliantly is put their resources where residents can use them effectively to maintain a high level of physical activity,” Walt Thompson, chairman of the advisory board who created the index told .
Minneapolis spends double the amount of money on parks per capita ($227) as many other cities and has a greater number of baseball diamonds, playgrounds, golf courses, and dog parks, he added.聽
The top five towns:
1. Minneapolis-St. Paul
2. Washington, D.C.
3. Portland, Ore.
4. San Francisco
5. Denver
The bottom five towns:
46. Memphis
47. Louisville
48. San Antonio
49. Detroit
50. Oklahoma City