“A healthy city is one that is continually creating and improving those physical and social environments and expanding those community resources which enable people to mutually support each other in performing all the functions of life and developing to their maximum potential.” This is according to the World Health Organization dictionary.

Cities face many challenges in the coming years. It is estimated that more than 70 percent of the world’s population will be living in cities by 2050. City residents face threats by infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS, pneumonia, TB, diarrheal diseases, and non-communicative diseases like asthma, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, violence, injuries and automobile accidents. At the moment, 50 percent of the world’s population live in cities – that’s 3.5 billion of us, folks.

Qualifiers in ferreting out the best and the worst in American city’s fitness were measured by these criteria: physical fitness takes into account chronic health problems, eating habits, disease rates, access to parks and recreational spaces and exercise rates; healthcare involves doctor access, the quality of care, and percentage of residents with healthcare insurance. Other factors include education and poverty levels as well as income and mortality levels.

The top American cities on the 2015 American Fitness Index, which uses the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) information, are as follows:

• Washington, DC
• Minneapolis, MN
• San Diego, CA
• San Francisco, CA
• Sacramento, CA
• Denver, CO
• Portland, OR
• Seattle, WA
• Boston, MA
• San Jose, CA