This Is the Best State for an Active Lifestyle

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By Douglas A. McIntyre Published
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This Is the Best State for an Active Lifestyle

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Inactivity can cause a number of health problems. The CDC reports that people who exercise regularly generally have better heart health, lower weight, improved brain health, and less likelihood of some cancers. On the other hand, obesity is rampant in America, so millions ignore the CDC data. The CDC says that over 40% of Americans are obese. This carries the risk of heart disease, some cancers, and Type 2 diabetes.

Among the reasons some cities and states are better for active adults is that they have areas where people can be active. And, this varies from place to place. Some cities don’t have many parks and other outdoor places to exercise but have gyms with expensive membership fees, while others seemingly have a gym and/or a park on every block.

To compile a list of the best state for an active lifestyle, 24/7 Tempo reviewed a ranking by Myprotein, a sports nutrition online retailer, which analyzed price of a gym membership in every state and D.C. (as compared to cost of living), the availability of gyms and green space, tennis court rental, and healthy grocery stores.

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New York is among the best states for living an active lifestyle even though it is the most expensive state for gym-goers, with the average cost of a monthly membership coming in at just over $105.

At the other end of the scale, Alabama offers the cheapest gym memberships, costing just $22 on average, but the state ranks in the middle in terms of overall active lifestyle-friendliness. That distinction goes to Rhode Island, which scored highest for affordability, second for green space, and seventh for gym access.

Here are details on Rhode Island:

> Total score: 146
> Gyms: 6.9 per 100,000 people
> Share of residents living within 10 mins of a park: 99%
> Affordability rank: 1 out of 51

Click here to read Best States for an Active Lifestyle

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Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

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