Which U.S. City Is the Fittest?

They shot, and some scored. The Twin Cities (Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota) have stripped the District of Columbia of its title as America's fittest metro area, according to new rankings released today.

The American College of Sports Medicine and the Anthem Foundation are out with their annual American Fitness Index, which ranks the fittest metro areas in the U.S. The District of Columbia has reigned fittest for the last three years. Not anymore.

More than 20 health and physical activity experts, along with the American College of Sports Medicine and the Indiana University School of Family Medicine, created the methodology for the report, which analyzed data from the U.S. Census and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, in addition to other metrics. Data points used in the study included 18 personal health indicators, such as the percentage of residents meeting the CDC's aerobic activity guidelines, and 17 community/environmental metrics, such as the amount of parkland as a percent of city land area.

Over the last year, the researchers observed an overall 3.9 percent rise in U.S. walkability scores and a 10.5 percent drop in the diagnosis of angina or coronary heart disease around the country. But there was also an 11.7 percent rise in the diabetes death rate and a 6.2 percent decline in consumption of the recommended number of daily fruit servings.

The study also found that in its 10-year existence, the U.S. obesity percentage increased from 25.4 to 28.7 percent, and that those self-reporting excellent or very good health dipped from 55.6 to 52.1 percent.

The top seven cities in the latest edition of the report scored 4 to 13 percentage points fitter than all other locales in last year's edition.

Los Angeles, Miami and Orlando were among the areas that improved the most since last year's list. Philadelphia, New Orleans and Richmond, Virginia, were some that fell the farthest.

Behold, America's fittest metro areas: (While it looks like No. 6 and No. 7 are tied, it's only a result of rounding.)

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David Oliver is Associate Editor, Social Media at U.S. News & World Report. Follow him on Twitter, connect with him on LinkedIn, or send him an email at doliver@usnews.com.