The Center for Disease Control (CDC) publishes data on the percent of people who live within half-a-mile of a park by state. It also publishes data on the percent of people who usually walk or bike to work by state as well. The finding in this post is that proximity to a park and walking or biking to work both increase the likelihood that a person will achieve at least 300 minutes a week of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity or 150 minutes a week of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity. Note that this analysis covers the year 2015.

First, the top five states according to percent of people living within half-a-mile of a park heads off with Washington D.C., where 95.7% of people live in close proximity to a park. Next is Hawaii, with 82.9% of people living close to a park, and the rest of the top five include Utah, Colorado, and Oregon. The top five states according to percent of people who usually walk or bike to work is again headed off with Washington D.C., where 16.9% of the population walk or bike to work. It is followed by Alaska at 8.8%, New York at 7%, Vermont at 6.6%, and Oregon at 6.4%.

I run a simple regression looking first at the impact of living within half-a-mile of a park on percent of adults who are aerobically active for at least 300 minutes a week. The regression predicts how much a one percent increase in living within half-a-mile to a park impacts the percentage of aerobically active adults. The regression also controls for the size of the state, and thereby differences in resources, by including the 2015 population in the regression. The outcome of the regression is that a one percent increase in the percentage of people living within half-a-mile of a park increases the percentage of aerobically active adults by 10.86%. This statistic is very significant, which means it is unlikely to be due to chance.

Next, I run a similar regression predicting the impact of the percentage of people who usually walk or bike to work on the percentage of adults who are aerobically active for 300 minutes a week. Similarly, I control for population in 2015. The outcome of the regression is that a one percentage point increase in the number of people who usually walk or bike to work increases the percentage of people who are aerobically active by 71.10%. This statistic is also very significant and is unlikely to be due to chance.

Finally, I turn to the question of what are the demographics of people who are aerobically active for 300 minutes a week. Chart 1, below, examines age and aerobic activity. Those 65 and older are most likely to be aerobically active for 300 minutes a week.

Chart 2 demonstrates that the percentage of adults who are aerobically active at least 300 minutes a week increases with educational attainment. College graduates are most likely to be aerobically active.

Chart 3 shows that men slightly edge out women in terms of the percentage who are aerobically active–32.6% and 30.1%, respectively.

Chart 4 demonstrates that the percentage of adults who are aerobically active increases with income. Those who earn $75,000 or greater are most likely to be aerobically active.

Finally, Chart 5 shows the percentage of adults who are aerobically active by race/ethnicity. Leading the pack is Hawaiian/Pacific Islander with 39.1%.

This analysis demonstrates that people who live near parks are more likely to be aerobically active. The reasons for this are as yet unclear, but perhaps people enjoy being active outdoors. This is a topic for further study. Also, those people who already walk or bike to work are more likely to be aerobically active for at least 300 minutes a week. Finally, the breakdown of aerobically active adults by demographics shows that older, well-educated, and high-income adults are most likely to be aerobically active.

Sources: https://nccd.cdc.gov/dnpao_dtm/rdPage.aspx?rdReport=DNPAO_DTM.ExploreByTopic&islClass=PA&islTopic=PA1&islYear=20182018, https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?src=bkmk