Fitness Fail
How unfit is Austin? You may want to run from the answer
If one of your New Year's resolutions was to get in shape, you might have a tougher time doing it in Texas.
WalletHub looked at the 100 most populated cities across the U.S. to determine which promote a healthy and active lifestyle, and we certainly didn't come out on top. In fact, many Texas cities fall to the very bottom.
The 24 metrics WalletHub used to rank the cities were grouped into two categories. A budget and participation score includes data on monthly fitness club fees, percentage of people who regularly engage in physical activity, and more. The sports facilities and outdoor environment score comprises data about the number of fitness centers, parks and playgrounds, swimming pools, and tennis courts per capita, among other metrics.
With a mediocre ranking of No. 54, Austin fares best among Texas' largest cities, followed by Houston (No. 82), Dallas (No. 84), San Antonio (No. 89), and Fort Worth (No. 94). The worst offenders in Texas are Irving and Laredo, which rank Nos. 99 and 100, respectively.
Among individual categories, Austin grabs the No. 22 spot for budget/participation, but falls to 66th in the sports/outdoor category.
So where should you live if you can't sit still? Scottsdale, Arizona, takes the overall lead, with Orlando, Florida; Tampa, Florida; Cincinnati, Ohio; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, rounding out the top five. The folks who engage in the most physical activity all reside on the West Coast, in Portland, Seattle, and several California cities.