Madison and Milwaukee are two of the best cities in the U.S. for living an active lifestyle, according to a recent report from WalletHub.
WalletHub Analyst Chip Lupo said in the Jan. 8 report the best cities for maintaining such a lifestyle “offer opportunities for all types of people,” ranging from team sports to biking. “They also tend to be large cities that still have a close proximity to beautiful natural areas for hiking and swimming,” Lupo said.
To compile the list, analysts compared the 100 most populated cities across the U.S. on two categories. The personal finance website analyzed each state’s budget and participation, as well as sports and outdoors.
These two factors were then evaluated using 35 metrics, including average monthly fitness club fee, swimming pools per capita, proximity to major bodies of water and more. From there, cities were then graded on a 100-point scale for each metric, with a “weighted average” across all metrics used to calculate an “Active Lifestyle Score.”
Based on these metrics, Madison and Milwaukee both made the top 50 on WalletHub’s list. These cities also recently made the personal finance website’s best places to retire list, best places to find a job list and U.S. News & World Report’s 2025-2026 Best Places to Live list, along with Green Bay.
To read WalletHub’s full 2025 “Best & Worst Cities for an Active Lifestyle” report, click here.
How did Wisconsin cities rank?
Madison ranked 13th on the list while Milwaukee ranked 33rd.
How did Madison score?
WalletHub’s Active Lifestyle Score: 53.16
Budget and participation rank: 21
Sports and outdoors rank: 13
How did Milwaukee score?
WalletHub’s Active Lifestyle Score: 47.25
Budget and participation rank: 72
Sports and outdoors rank: 19
What are the top 15 best cities for an active lifestyle in the U.S., according to WalletHub?
- Honolulu, Hawaii
- New York, New York
- San Francisco, California
- Las Vegas, Nevada
- Chicago, Illinois
- Los Angeles, California
- Denver, Colorado
- San Diego, California
- Philadelphia, Pennslyvania
- Cincinnati, Ohio
- Atlanta, Georgia
- Seattle, Washington
- Madison, Wisconsin
- Portland, Oregon
- Austin, Texas