Philadelphia is the city in the United States with the greatest number of bike commuters among those cities with more than 1 million inhabitants. The bike share system made its debut just a few weeks ago. And the city is trying to keep up with its commitment to healthy initiatives such as Obama’s ‘Let’s Move’ campaign, just to name one. How is the city doing in terms of health and fitness? According to latest American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and Anthem Foundation study, not as good as we might have expected. Especially not if we compare this year’s results with last year’s.

The Philadelphia Metropolitan Area (Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington) ranked number 22 in the 2015 Health and Community Fitness Status of the 50 largest metropolitan areas, measured by American Fitness Index® (AFI). In 2014, the city ranked number 20.

Among Philadelphia’s biggest challenges, in terms of health behaviors and chronic health problems, are the 1.2 percent increase in obesity rates from 27 to 28.2. (the target goal is 21.3); higher asthma levels from 9.7 to 10.8 (the goal is 6.50; and a higher death rate for angina or coronary heart disease. The city has also experienced a decrease is the percentage of people who eat two or more fruits per day (from 31.1 to 30.0) or meet CDC aerobic and strength activity guidelines (from 18.9 to 16.6).

However, Philadelphia has experienced  a huge improvement in terms of recreational and open-air  facilities. The Philadelphia metropolitan area now has more farmers markets per capita;  a higher percent of people who use public transit, walk or bicycle to work; and more recreational centers, swimming pools and tennis courts per capita than it did before..

The Washington D.C.-Arlington-Alexandria area took first on the list, followed by Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington and San Diego-Carlsbad. Other rankings included: San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward (4); Sacramento-Roseville-Arden-Arcade (5); Denver-Aurora-Lakewood (6); Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro (7); Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue (8); Boston-Cambridge-Newton (9) and San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara (10). 

Pittsburgh (PA) ranked 21 out of 50 on the list. The least healthier in the country are Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin (45); Louisville/Jefferson County (46); San Antonio-New Braunfels (47); Oklahoma City (48); Memphis (49). At the bottom? Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson (50).