North Texas turned in one of the stronger regional showings in the 2026 ACSM American Fitness Index, the annual ranking of America's fittest cities released this month.
McKinney is not scored by the index, which evaluates only the nation's 100 largest cities by population, but its neighbors dominated the Texas entries: three of the seven North Texas cities on the list share a border with McKinney.
Seven North Texas cities made the list, led by Plano, which ranked 12th nationally, the best showing of any Texas city:
Plano, No. 12 nationally and No. 1 in Texas, with a top-10 national score on personal health measures. Frisco, No. 32 overall, and ninth in the nation on personal health. Dallas, No. 43. Fort Worth, No. 69. Garland, No. 72. Arlington, No. 78. Irving, No. 86.
Statewide, Austin ranked 28th, Houston 44th, San Antonio 80th and El Paso 75th.
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.
