The Most Fit Cities in Canada and the US

Whether it's a morning run before work or a spin class squeezed into a lunch break, staying active looks different for everyone, but where you live can have a bigger impact on your fitness habits than you might think. Access to gyms, yoga studios, healthy food options, and even the cultural pull of a wellness-oriented community all play a role in how easy (or hard) it is to prioritise an active lifestyle day to day.

To find out which cities may make it easiest to live a fit lifestyle, we ranked the largest cities across Canada and the US using these metrics: gym density, yoga and Pilates studios per capita, healthy market and juice bar access, fitness-related Yelp review activity, and search interest in gyms and healthy restaurants. Here's what the data revealed.

Key takeaways

• The top 5 most fit cities in Canada are Burnaby, BC; Richmond, BC; Richmond Hill, ON; Coquitlam, BC; and Vancouver, BC.
• The top 5 most fit cities in the US are Long Beach, CA; Oakland, CA; Miami, FL; Washington, DC; and Atlanta, GA.
• Vancouver, Toronto, and Mississauga show large gaps between fitness search interest and physical access. Vancouver generates 41,359 gym-related searches per 100K residents annually, but has just 34 gyms per capita.
• Burnaby has the most gyms per capita among Canada's largest cities (121), followed by Coquitlam (103) and Richmond Hill (95).
• Long Beach, CA, has the most gyms per capita among the largest US cities (129), followed by Oakland, CA (113) and Boston, MA (72).

Where Canadians and Americans rank for fitness

Not all cities are created equal when it comes to supporting an active lifestyle. Here's how Canadian and American cities compare across our composite fitness score.

See the full ranking here.

Among the 46 Canadian cities analysed, these are the top 10 most fit:

1. Burnaby, BC
2. Richmond, BC
3. Richmond Hill, ON
4. Coquitlam, BC
5. Vancouver, BC
6. Markham, ON
7. Oakville, ON
8. Waterloo, ON
9. Windsor, ON
10. Burlington, ON

These cities often ranked well for access to fitness spaces like gyms and Pilates/yoga studios. They also had a high number of health markets, juice, and smoothie bars per 100,000 residents. Online search and Yelp review volume were also high in these areas, showing how engaged these communities are with fitness and health eating.

But even among Canada's fittest cities, there's a noteworthy divide between demand and supply. Vancouver, Toronto, and Mississauga all show significant gaps between how often residents search for fitness resources and the number of resources actually available in their communities:

• Vancouver generated 41,359 gym-related searches per 100K residents annually, but has just 34 gyms per 100K residents.
• Toronto saw 28,737 gym searches per 100K, compared to only 14 gyms per capita.
• Mississauga had 21,756 gym searches and 17 gyms per 100K.

This data suggests that motivation is there, but residents may struggle to access workout facilities.

See the full ranking here.

Among the 50 US cities analysed, these are the top 10 most fit:

1. Long Beach, CA
2. Oakland, CA
3. Miami, FL
4. Washington, DC
5. Atlanta, GA
6. Boston, MA
7. Tampa, FL
8. San Francisco, CA
9. Denver, CO
10. Seattle, WA

The US has its own access gap story, too:

• Atlanta residents made 29,736 gym-related searches per 100K residents annually, but have just 55 gyms per capita.
• Miami measured 47,100 gym searches per 100K, compared to 63 gyms per capita.
• Austin saw 26,168 searches per 100K, with only 21.5 gyms per 100K.

High search interest, paired with limited infrastructure, suggests that demand for fitness access may be outpacing availability in some of America's most populous cities.

The fitness infrastructure behind Canada's top cities

Looking beyond the overall score, the individual metrics included in this ranking reveal which Canadian cities are leading in specific categories.

When it comes to sheer gym density, Burnaby takes the top spot among Canada's largest cities with 121 gyms per 100K residents, followed by Coquitlam (103) and Richmond Hill (95). Burnaby's dominance extends to yoga studios as well, leading the country with 101 per 100K, ahead of Richmond (90) and Richmond Hill (83).

For Pilates, it's a different city stealing the crown. Waterloo ranks first with 224 Pilates studios per 100K, ahead of St. Catharines (215) and Ajax (175).

Engagement tells its own story. Richmond residents are the most active reviewers of fitness and wellness businesses, generating 10,882 Yelp reviews per 100K, followed by Burnaby (9,716) and Richmond Hill (6,697).

On the search side, Vancouver leads in both gym-related searches (41,359 per 100K) and healthy restaurant searches (1,022 per 100K). Burnaby and Brampton are close behind for gym searches, while Whitby and Toronto round out the top 3 for healthy food interest.

The fitness infrastructure behind America's top cities

In the US, a handful of cities stand out for their concentration of fitness venues and the enthusiasm their residents show for using them.

Long Beach dominates gym access among the largest US cities, with 129 gyms per 100K residents, ahead of No. 2 Oakland (113) and No. 3 Boston (72). Oakland leads the country in both yoga studios (173 per 100K) and Pilates studios (73 per 100K), with Long Beach placing second in both categories. Washington, DC, rounds out the top 3 for yoga, while Miami places third for Pilates studios.

On the engagement side, Long Beach residents are the most active fitness reviewers in the US by a wide margin, logging 37,583 Yelp reviews per 100K, followed by Oakland (32,783) and San Francisco (19,620).

Search interest paints a slightly different picture. Miami tops gym-related searches at 47,100 per 100K, trailed by Seattle (36,256) and Atlanta (29,736). When it comes to healthy restaurants, Atlanta has the most interest, with 3,485 searches per 100K, followed by Miami (3,292) and Tampa (2,705).

Your city is just one part of the picture

Where you live shapes your access to fitness and healthy food resources, but it doesn't determine your outcomes. Whether your city ranked at the top or near the bottom, the desire to be healthy is nearly universal, even when the resources to support it aren't equally distributed. If you're in a city where gyms are scarce or healthy food options are limited, finding ways to build wellness habits that work within your environment can make all the difference.

Methodology

To rank the most fit cities in Canada and the US, MedExpress analysed eight metrics across the largest cities in each country, all measured per 100,000 residents and weighted equally at 12.5% each.

Exercise access (3 metrics)

1. Gyms per 100K - Yelp total listings
2. Yoga studios per 100K - Yelp total listings
3. Pilates studios per 100K - Yelp total listings

Healthy eating access (2 metrics)

1. Health markets per 100K - Yelp total listings
2. Juice & smoothie bars per 100K - Yelp total listings

Fitness engagement (3 metrics)

1. Yelp reviews per 100K: total reviews across all 6 Yelp categories (gyms, yoga, Pilates, health markets, juice bars, coffee)
2. "Gym near me" search volume per 100K: Google trends; 2025+2026 total
3. "Healthy restaurants near me" search volume per 100K: Google trends; 2025+2026 total

Yelp listing counts reflect the results returned for each city's location search and may include establishments from neighboring areas, which could inflate per-capita figures for some cities, particularly smaller markets.

Each metric was scored 0–100 within each country (minimum city = 0, maximum city = 100), then averaged equally across all eight metrics to yield a final score out of 100. Cities scoring higher on this scale ranked higher in the overall rankings per country.

Fair use statement

The data and findings in this study are intended for editorial and informational purposes. We encourage reporters and publishers to share this research freely. Please attribute the findings to MedExpress and link back to this page when referencing the study.