Eight Florida cities made the 2026 ACSM American Fitness Index released this month, with Jacksonville, the closest major city to Nocatee, ranking 84th among the nation's 100 largest cities.
Tampa led the state at No. 37, followed by Miami at No. 39 and St. Petersburg at No. 45. Cape Coral ranked 62nd, Orlando 64th, Hialeah 67th and Port St. Lucie 98th. Nocatee itself is not scored; the index evaluates only the country's 100 largest cities.
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.
For Jacksonville, the region's entry on the list, the ranking reflects a familiar big-city split: residents' personal health measures scored in the bottom quarter nationally while the city's community assets scored closer to the middle, and the report notes wide gaps of this kind across the Southeast.
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.
