Philadelphia may have its fair share of parks, fitness centers and walkability scores, but is it considered one of the fittest cities in the United States?
Well, that depends on your criteria
According to the 2026 data set from theAmerican College of Sports Medicine, Philly took closer to the middle of the pack for personal fitness, but it scored higher on community and environment
Here’s a breakdown
Is Philadelphia one of the fittest cities in America?
According to the 2026 ACSM rankings, Philadelphia took No. 54 of 100 for overall fitness
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This placement was broken into a No. 84 ranking for personal health and a No. 10 ranking for community and environment
The index took into account multiple fitness behaviors, such as smoking, sleep patterns, and exercise
Philadelphia ranked above average for bicycling or walking to work, using public transportation to get to work, and fruit consumption
However, the city also ranked above average for smoking, poor physical and mental health, obesity, asthma, high blood pressure and diabetes
For environmental factors, Philly ranked well above average for categories like those within a 10-minute walk to a park (95% compared to 71.8%) and walk score (74.8 compared to 47.5)
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The city also exceeded the average rate in recreational categories like splashpadsand swimming poolsper 100,000 residents
For a full breakdown of the city’s ranking and ratings, click here
Kaitlyn McCormick is a Philadelphia-based reporter writing all things trending, breaking and city-related for USA TODAY’s Philadelphia Metro Connect Team
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Is Philadelphia one of the fittest cities? Here’s what the ACSM says
