This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Love to golf, play tennis or hang out with your pup at the local dog park?

If so, Salt Lake City is the place for you.

The American College of Sports Medicine 2014 Fitness Index ranked Salt Lake City the 11th fittest city in the nation, based on factors such as physical activity of residents, avaibility of sports amenities, percentage of people biking to work, smoking rates and chronic illness rates.

There's still room for improvement, but here's where Utah's capital city fared well, and where it can get better. To read the full report, click on the PDF to the left. Salt Lake City is higlighted on page 98.

Areas of Excellence (at or better than target goal):

• Higher percent of any physical activity or exercise in the last 30 days

• Lower percent currently smoking

• Lower percent with angina or coronary heart disease

• Lower death rate for cardiovascular disease

• Higher percent bicycling or walking to work

• Higher Walk ScoreĀ®

• More ball diamonds per capita

• More dog parks per capita

• More park playgrounds per capita

• More golf courses per capita

• More park units per capita

• More tennis courts per capita

Improvement Priority Areas (worse than 20% of target goal):

• Higher percent of days when mental health was not good during the past 30 days

• Higher percent with asthma

• Higher death rate for diabetes

• Lower percent of city land area as parkland

• Fewer acres of parkland per capita

• Fewer recreation centers per capita

• Fewer swimming pools per capita

• Lower park-related expenditures per capita

—Sheena McFarland

Twitter: @sheena5427