The American College of Sports Medicine has released their annual ‘fittest cities’ ranking and one Colorado spot snagged a placement among the ‘top 10’ most-fit places.

“No city is immune to chronic disease, but fortunately, every city and every person can take positive steps toward creating healthier lifestyles,” said Shantanu Agrawal, M.D., chief health officer of Elevance Health. “Physical activity has proven to be an effective tool in reducing the prevalence of many chronic diseases. Getting sufficient physical activity could prevent one in 12 cases of diabetes, one in 15 cases of heart disease and one in 10 premature deaths. We also know that food is medicine, and consistent access to nutritious food is an essential part of maintaining health. When we provide our bodies with nutritious foods, we are less affected by diet-sensitive chronic conditions. Proper nutrition, fitness, and health are deeply connected, and when we prioritize all three, we can improve our quality of life.”

In order to make their ranking, the organization took at look at America’s 100 largest cities, comparing performance across 34 related metrics, including factors like exercise rate, presence of certain health conditions, the share of residents within a 10-minute walking distance of a park, and more.

Of the three Colorado cities that were large enough to be included in the ranking, Denver ranked 9th, Aurora ranked 30th, and Colorado Springs ranked 35th.

The Mile High City’s high ranking probably comes with no surprise to most living in the Centennial State, as Denver is regularly recognized for its physical fitness. However, Colorado Springs’ above-average, but relatively middle-of-the-road ranking may shock some given how active residents of this city tend to be.

While Colorado Springs performed fairly well in terms of ‘personal health’ metrics, ranking 19th overall in this portion of the data analysis, the city didn’t do so hot in terms of ‘community and environment’ data,’ ranking 62nd in regard to that portion of the data analysis compared to Denver’s 35th and Aurora’s 52nd.

Colorado Springs had the lowest ‘bike score’ of the three cities, as well as the lowest number of residents living close to parks and the lowest ‘walk score.’

The top-ranking city nationwide was Arlington, Virginia, while the lowest ranking city was Oklahoma City.

Find the full results here and see specifically how each city scored on each metric on this dashboard.

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