The Top 10 Most Runner-Friendly U.S. Cities

For many homeowners, hobbies and exercise can impact how they view housing markets. The following 10 cities are the best for running outdoors, indoors, and competitively. 

Arlington, Virginia was named the best city for runners with the most races for its population size, top scores for the share of residents with park access and for the number of gyms per 10,000 residents. Minneapolis took the second spot with high scores in park access and a low pedestrian fatality rate. Yet, one must consider the impact of harsh Minnesotan winters on outdoor activity. SmartAsset found that the least runner-friendly cities were in the Southwest, as states like Arizona and Nevada have little parkland and low walkability. 

We looked at data for 100 U.S. cities across eight factors. Specifically we looked at data on the number of races per 10,000 residents, walkability, safety, housing cost as a percent of income, gyms per 10,000 residents, percent of a city covered by parkland and percent of residents with access to a park. Check out our data and methodology below to see where we got our data and how we put it together.

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