America's Fittest and Fattest Cities

How Does Your Hometown Weigh In?

WebMD Health News

Jan. 6, 2005 - Feeling hefty in Houston or svelte in Seattle? You're not alone. A new report shows that Houston once again weighs in as the fattest city in America while Seattle ranks as the fittest.

Men's Fitness magazine ranked the 50 largest U.S. cities based on a variety of factors related to obesityobesity and fitness, such as percentage of obese residents, recreation facilities, sports activities, and number of junk food outlets.

After crunching the numbers, Houston emerged as America's fattest city in 2005. Houston temporarily lost the top spot to Detroit in 2004 but held the dubious honor from 2001 to 2003.

Houston was joined by two other Texas cities in the top 10 fattest cities, Dallas and San Antonio, suggesting that bigger isn't necessarily better for the residents of the Lone Star state. Three other cities, Memphis, New Orleans, and New York, also bulked up and climbed more than 10 spots to make an appearance in the top 10.

On the positive side, the report shows that some cities are slimming down, as Seattle rose from No. 6 on the fittest list to No. 1, followed by Honolulu and Colorado Springs.

Here's how the rest fared:

25 Fattest Cities
Rank	City	Rank in 2004
1	Houston	2
2	Philadelphia	7
3	Detroit	1
4	Memphis, Tenn.	20
5	Chicago	5
6	Dallas	3
7	New Orleans	22
8	New York	21
9	Las Vegas	16
10	San Antonio	4
11	El Paso, Texas	24
12	Phoenix	18
13	Indianapolis	17
14	Fort Worth, Texas	6
15	Mesa, Ariz.	12
16	Columbus, Ohio	10
17	Wichita, Kan.	16*
18	Kansas City, Mo.	14
19	Miami	15
20	Long Beach, Calif.	23*
21	Oklahoma City	13
22	Tulsa, Okla.	19
23	Atlanta	11
24	Charlotte, N.C.	22*
25	Baltimore	23
* Ranking in the top 25 fittest cities in 2004

25 Fittest Cities
Rank	City	Rank in 2004
1	Seattle	6
2	Honolulu	1
3	Colorado Springs, Colo.	5
4	San Francisco	2
5	Denver	4
6	Portland, Ore.	8
7	Sacramento, Calif.	10
8	Tucson, Ariz.	9
9	San Diego	14
10	Albuquerque, N.M.	12
11	Boston	7
12	Virginia Beach, Va.	3
13	Minneapolis, Minn.	18
14	Fresno, Calif.	15
15	Milwaukee, Wis.	21
16	Omaha, Neb.	11
17	San Jose, Calif.	20
18	Jacksonville, Fla.	13
19	Austin, Texas	19
20	Oakland, Calif.	17
21	Los Angeles	25
22	Arlington, Texas	8*
23	Washington	25
24	Cleveland	9*
25	Nashville-Davidson, Tenn.	24
* Ranking in the top 25 fattest cities in 2004

How They Did It

It's the sixth annual 50-city report by the magazine. The cities were ranked first to last and assigned numerical grades in 14 equally weighted categories, which are considered indicators, risk factors, or relevant environmental determinants affecting fitness, obesity, and health.

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