The data doesn’t lie—getting in on the fitness tribe movement will dial up the fun and crank up your results! But depending on where you live, finding a successful fitness tribe may not be as simple as stepping out your front door. If it feels nearly impossible to meet up, or if there’s nothing healthy to do and nowhere to do it, you might be in a zip code that just isn’t well designed for fitness tribes.
MyFitnessPal took a virtual tour across the U.S. to find the places where fitness tribes thrive, based on two main factors: the abundance of parks, group exercise opportunities, participatory sports, and endurance events; and the rate at which local MyFitnessPal users naturally tend to add friends on the app or share their food diaries. Two fun takeaways from our virtual tour:
Southern hospitality rules! 3 of the top 10 cities for fitness tribes hail from Southern states. Looks like naturally social southerners are sidestepping the pecan pie in favor of getting (and staying!) fit together.
West coast represent! Long Beach and San Francisco, CA offer temperate climates and massive outdoor park spaces, plus a large number of yoga studios, boot camps, and endurance events—the stuff fitness tribes are made of.
Here are our top 10 cities for fitness tribes!
- Austin, TX With more acres of parkland than the average U.S. city, Austin, TX residents have more opportunities to exercise outdoors.
- Boston, MA Bean towners is kicking butts! The number of smokers in Boston, MA is well below the national average.
- Long Beach, CA The temperate climate in Long Beach, CA practically demands year-round swimming, surfing, beach volleyball, and other seaside activities.
- Washington, DC Residents of the U.S. capital city are more likely to bike to work or take public transportation than they are to drive.
- Baltimore, MD Playgrounds, rec centers, and swimming pools encourage the whole family to be fit in Baltimore, MD.
- Memphis, TN Hole in one! Memphis, TN has more golf courses per capita than the average U.S. city.
- Kansas City, MO Where’s home to the largest farmer’s market in the Midwest,City Market, offering fresh produce, locally raised meats, and artisan crafts year-round? Kansas City, MO, of course!
- Atlanta, GA The world’s largest 10K race,The Peach Tree Road Race, is held annually in Atlanta, GA on July 4.
- San Francisco, CA Thanks to access to fresh produce, San Francisco, CA residents eat more than five servings of fruit and veggies a day on average.
- Las Vegas, NV Pet lovers in Las Vegas, NV can walk their pups to nearly four times more dog parks than the average U.S. city.
Want more fitness tribe fun? Download our free eBook The Rise of the Fitness Tribe from MyFitnessPal today!
Did your city make our top 10 list? What does healthy look like where you live? Share in the comments below!
