If getting fit is among your goals for the new year, Atlanta may not be the best city to live in to make that happen.
WalletHub recently released a list of the best cities to reside if you want to increase the activity level in your life — and Atlanta doesn't crack the top 10.
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Two key categories were analyzed in a survey of the 100 most populated U.S. cities. They were: Budget and Participation, which accounted for 30 total points, and Sports and Outdoors, which made up the other 70 points. The categories were analyzed using 38 metrics. They included average monthly fitness club fee, sports clubs per capita and intramural leagues per capita among the Budget and Participation metrics. For Sports and Outdoors, metrics included the amount of swimming lesson opportunities, playgrounds and presence of bike sharing programs per capita.
The metrics were graded on a 100-point scale. Scoring 100 points means a physically active population had the most favorable conditions. Some results used the square root of a city’s population to calculate the population size to avoid overcompensating for small differences among towns.
» RELATED: Atlanta named one of the best cities for an active lifestyle in 2018
Researchers calculated the active lifestyle score by using a city’s weighted average among all metrics. The active lifestyle score was then used to rank the cities in order from best to worst. Only the city proper, not the metro area, was used in calculating the samples.
So how did Atlanta fare?
The city ranks No. 20 for the best city to live in if you want to get moving. That’s down from No. 12 in 2018.
The Peach City’s Sports and Outdoors rank was also No. 20, while its Budget and Participation score placed it at no. 7 in that category.
The best city to live an active lifestyle is Honolulu, followed by Chicago and San Francisco. The city deemed the worst is Albuquerque, N.M.
Even if a certain city doesn't have many basketball hoops or swimming pools available, a 2019 study by Purdue University and GoBankingRates.com suggests that getting at least 56 minutes of vigorous exercise each week can lead to an 86% decrease in the risk of being mobility-disabled.
