Madison ranks fourth among the fittest cities in the US.

Madison ranks fourth among the fittest cities in the US.
Wisconsin's capital topped the list in parks per capita.

MADISON, Wis. Driven by its love of exercise and an array of parks, Wisconsin's capital city is among the elite group in a new ranking of the nation's fittest cities.

Madison was just in the top five in the most recent American Fitness Index survey of 100 American cities. The list, developed by the American College of Sports Medicine, compares the nation's largest cities based on various rankings, divided between individual health rankings and neighborhood health rankings.

It was in the first that Madison excelled, exceeding her total rank and declaring fourth place. When it came to the community ranking, which also included environmental elements, the city began to fall behind. Not only did it finish a tick out of the top twenty, it also trailed far behind the other Wisconsin city ranked in the survey, Milwaukee.

The largest city in the state rose to 12th in community fitness. With a personal health ranking in the bottom third (70) of the cities surveyed, Milwaukee couldn't climb higher than 43rd fittest overall.

Paradoxically, despite ranking much lower in overall neighborhood health, it remained in one of those procedures where Madison fared better than ever. With nearly 11 parks per 10,000 residents, Madison outperformed all other cities, and the study also found that 95 percent of residents are within a 10-minute walk of at least one of those parks.

Parks are also available, showing how much Madisonians enjoy exercise. Despite the fact that the most fit city in the survey, Arlington, Virginia, was also the one with the highest share (85.7%) of people who reported that they had actually exercised in the past 30 days, Madison did not stay. behind. According to the index, 84.3 percent of city residents exercised in the past month, just over a percentage point below Arlington's criteria and more than eight points above the national average of 75.7 percent.

Arlington's top spot in this new study also marks the fourth consecutive year they have topped the list. Here is the full top 10:

1 Arlington, Va.
2 Minneapolis, Minn.
3 Seattle, Washington.
4 Denver, Colo.
5 Madison, Wisconsin.
6 Washington, D.C.
7 St. Paul, Minn.
8 Irvine, Calif.
9 Portland, Oregon.
10 Atlanta, Ga.