North Texas Lands Seven Cities on the 2026 American Fitness Index

North Texas turned in one of the stronger regional showings in the 2026 ACSM American Fitness Index, the annual ranking of America's fittest cities released this month. The index only ranks the nation's 100 largest cities, so Denton is not evaluated directly, but readers will recognize plenty of neighbors on the list.

Seven North Texas cities made the list, led by Plano, which ranked 12th nationally, the best showing of any Texas city:

Plano, No. 12 nationally and No. 1 in Texas, with a top-10 national score on personal health measures. Frisco, No. 32 overall, and ninth in the nation on personal health. Dallas, No. 43. Fort Worth, No. 69. Garland, No. 72. Arlington, No. 78. Irving, No. 86.

Statewide, Austin ranked 28th, Houston 44th, San Antonio 80th and El Paso 75th.

The index, published for the 19th year by the American College of Sports Medicine with the Elevance Health Foundation, scores the 100 largest U.S. cities on personal health measures, such as physical activity, chronic disease and health outcomes, and on community and environment measures like parks, walkability and air quality.

Across the 100 cities, the 2026 report found air quality improved in many places while food insecurity worsened for a second straight year, rising from an average of 12.9 percent to 14.4 percent, with 99 of the 100 cities reporting higher rates than the year before. Arlington, Virginia was named the nation's fittest city again, followed by Washington, D.C., Minneapolis, Seattle and Denver.

The full report and city-by-city data are available at americanfitnessindex.org.

Sources

https://acsm.org/wp-content/uploads/2026-AFI-report_final.pdf

https://americanfitnessindex.org/