Among fittest cities, New York lags

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NEWS) - You might think that New Yorkers are some of the fittest people in the country because of all the walking we do and those expensive boutique gyms we have. But new rankings by the American Fitness Index show among major cities we don't even come close.

Washington, D.C. is not only home to the nation's most powerful, but for the third year in a row it is also home to the nation's fittest, according to rankings by the American College of Sports Medicine.

The rankings combine personal health choices and what we have access to, like gyms and parks. Of the 50 major metropolitan cities on the list, New York comes in 22nd.

Good news first: what helps our rankings is we have more parks and farmers markets per capita and we do more walking than most cities.

However, we also have higher rates of obesity, asthma and diabetes, and not enough outdoor rec centers.

And while we still have work to do, Dr. Walt Thompson of Georgia State University says New York is climbing up the rankings, from 24 last year.

So who you ask is dead last? The fitness index says Indianapolis followed by the perennial least fit metropolis in the country, Oklahoma City.