PROVIDENCE – Providence ranks in top half of the nation’s “fittest” cities, according to the ACSM American Fitness Index published last month.
Providence ranked at No. 19 out of the largest 50 metropolitan areas nationally. The “fittest” cities were Minneapolis, Minn., Washington, D.C., Boston, Mass., and Portland, Ore.
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The index reflects data related to preventative health behaviors, levels of chronic disease conditions, health care access, community resources and policies that support physical activity.
Coming in at the bottom of the index were: Detroit, Mich., Birmingham, Ala., Memphis, Tenn., Louisville, Ky., and Oklahoma City, Okla.
The strengths of the Providence-New Bedford-Fall River metropolitan area include: low levels of poverty and lower death rate for diabetes. It scored a 55.1 on the index, compared to “fittest” city, Minneapolis, Minn., at 77.2 and the lowest – 24.6 – in Oklahoma City, Okla.
The index also highlighted the number of Providence farmers’ markets, rate of those bicycling or walking to work, and community areas such as ball diamonds, parks, dog parks, park playgrounds, golf courses, swimming pools, and Rhode Island’s higher level of requirements for physical education classes.
Nevertheless, Providence does have some challenges to overcome, including: high percent with asthma, high percent with angina or coronary heart disease, few acres of parkland per capita, low percent using public transportation to travel to work, few tennis courts per capita, and low park-related expenditures per capita.
When comparing Boston to Providence, Boston’s strengths included a higher median household income, lower percent of people unemployed, and a higher number of primary care physicians per capita. It had fewer golf courses, swimming pools, dog parks and tennis courts.
