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Environmental Health / Built Environment Indicator

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Access to Exercise Opportunities

100%
Location: Arlington
Period: 2025
In the best 50% of VA Counties
In the best 50% of VA Counties
In the best 50% of U.S. Counties
In the best 50% of U.S. Counties
Higher and better than the VA Value (83.8%)
Higher and better than the VA Value (83.8%)
Stable
Stable

What does it measure?

This indicator measures the percentage of individuals who live reasonably close to a park or recreational facility.

Why is this important?

Proximity to exercise opportunities, such as parks and recreation facilities, has been linked to an increase in physical activity among residents. Regular physical activity has a wide array of health benefits including weight control, muscle and bone strengthening, improved mental health and mood, and improved life expectancy. Furthermore, exercise reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome, and some cancers.


Changes Over Time

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Change in methodology for 2018:
Standard Industry Classification (SIC) 8-digit codes are no longer available. To replace these more generic 6-digit SIC codes were used to identify recreational facilities. In addition, YMCA of the USA provided CHR a complete list of facilities and services offered for them to better identify Y’s.
Change in methodology for 2023:
In 2023, County Health Rankings switched from using 2010 census blocks and population counts to 2020 census blocks and population counts and used the new 2020 Census Urban Areas to assign urban/rural status to recreational facilities and YMCAs.

Location

Include:
Comparison: Ranked
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Populations

Demographics:

Source

Data Source

County Health Rankings

More Details

Original Source: ArcGIS Business Analyst and Living Atlas of the World; YMCA; US Census TIGER/Line Shapefiles

Last Update

2025-05-13

Maintained by

Conduent Healthy Communities Institute

Filed Under

Environmental Health / Built Environment, Health / Physical Activity, Physical Determinants of Health

Indicator Gauge Icon Legend

Redis bad, Greenis good, Blueis not statistically different/neutral.

Compared to Distribution

an indicator guage with the arrow in the green the value is in the best half of communities.

an indicator guage with the arrow in the yellow the value is in the 2nd worst quarter of communities.

an indicator guage with the arrow in the red the value is in the worst quarter of communities.

Compared to Target

green circle with white tick inside it meets target; red circle with white cross inside it does not meet target.

Compared to a Single Value

green diamond with downward arrow inside it lower than the comparison value; red diamond with downward arrow inside it higher than the comparison value; blue diamond with downward arrow inside it not statistically different from comparison value.

Trend

green square outline with upward trending arrow inside it green square outline with downward trending arrow inside it non-significant change over time;

green square with upward trending arrow inside it green square with downward trending arrow inside it significant change over time;

blue square with equals sign no change over time.

Compared to Prior Value

green triangle with upward trending arrow inside it higher than the previous measurement period; green triangle with downward trending arrow inside it lower than the previous measurement period; blue equals sign no statistically different change from previous measurement period.

green chart bars Better than the overall value.

red chart bars Worse than the overall value.

light blue chart bars Similar to the overall value.

gray chart bars No confidence interval data available.

Data Rollup

April 2, 2026 www.healthierarlington.org

Map Layers

April 2, 2026www.healthierarlington.org
 
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