Reno tops Las Vegas in rankings of physically fit cities

By Jackie Valley

Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2015 | 6 p.m.

Northern Nevada has won again.

A BetterDoctor.com Fit Cities Index found that Reno residents are more physically fit than Las Vegans. The data-driven study ranked Reno No. 17 and Las Vegas No. 31 out of 85 U.S. cities. Henderson ranked No. 34.

The index took into account the percentage of residents who had exercised in the past 30 days, the percentage of residents with a healthy body weight, acres of park space and park spending per resident. BetterDoctor.com is a consumer tool for finding regional doctors.

Reno has more park space (11.3 acres per 1,000 residents), more residents with a healthy body weight (42.5 percent) and more residents who have exercised in the past month (80.9 percent) — all of which helped lift it above its southern rival.

By comparison, Las Vegas has 5.4 park acres per 1,000 residents, 39.6 percent of residents with a healthy body weight and 76.3 percent of residents who have exercised within 30 days.

Nevada cities can't compete with our western neighbor, though. Five California cities — San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, Irvine and San Diego — landed in the top 10.

Aurora, Colo. was ranked the most fit city; Laredo, Texas, the least fit city.