A recent ranking from the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM)/Elevance Health Foundation’s American Fitness Index shows that Arlington, VA is the fittest city in America. The ranking was calculated using 34 indicators of community health including exercise, sleep, chronic disease, parks, playgrounds, bike paths, safe streets and more. Arlington, VA had an overall score of 85 out of 100.
Among the measures of a fit city, walking and biking scores can show how easy it is to include physical activity in your daily activity, whether running errands, commuting, or exercising outdoors. Walking score measures analyze walking routes and nearby amenities in a community, as well as pedestrian friendliness. Communities with a walking score of 70 or above are very walkable and most errands can be accomplished by foot.
Similarly, bike score measures show whether an area is good for biking. A bike score is calculated by measuring bike infrastructure and the number of bike commuters. A bike score of 50-69 shows the area has some bike infrastructure while 70 and above show the area is very bikeable.
How does Mercer County score on these measures? Well, it depends where in Mercer County you live. Some areas such as Princeton are very walkable and very bikeable while other areas are not. It also depends on where you live and where you want to get to. If you live in West Windsor, the walk score is below 10 and bike score is under 40, car-dependent and somewhat bikeable. If you want to learn more about Mercer County and community health, check out the 2021 Health Needs Assessment findings.
If you want to calculate the walk/bike/transit score in your community, check out the tool and more info here. If you want to read the American Fitness Index findings, click here.
Sources:
https://walkingspree.com/do-you-live-in-americas-fittest-city-experts-rank-best-to-worst/
https://www.walkscore.com/