Report: Franklin most fit community in Teche Area

Published 10:00 am Friday, November 13, 2020

The city of Franklin was ranked as the most fit city in the Teche Area, while the city of St. Martinville simultaneously came in as the least fit in the area.

The data comes from Barbend.com, a training resource and news outlet on fitness-related material. The organization compiled a comprehensive list of the fittest and least fit cities across Louisiana, using data backed by studies based on a variety of factors.

These were combined to create an overall fitness score out of 100 for each city on the list. Fitness factors in this study include exercise opportunities, access to healthy food, air pollution, drinking water violations, physical inactivity, obesity and smoking, among others, according to the outlet.

The list comprised 110 of the major municipalities in Louisiana, and included cities as large as Lafayette to as small as Jennings. In the Teche Area, which includes Iberia, St. Martin and St. Mary parishes, Franklin came in as the healthiest at number 46. Out of the score of 100, Franklin finished with a score of 73.93.

New Iberia was the next Teche Area municipality on the list, coming in at 56 and a fit score of 72.4. New Iberia beat Broussard, which came in at 58th on the ranking, but lost to Youngsville which came in at 53rd.

The next Teche Area municipality mentioned was Jeanerette, which came in 61st and had a fitness score of 72.05. St. Martinville was the last Teche Area town mentioned, coming in 90th with a fitness score of 69.49.

The city of Shenandoah was listed as the most fit city in Louisiana with a fitness score of 78.48. Last place went to the town of Belle Chasse, which had a fitness score of 62.47.

According to barbend.com:

1. Franklin-79.93

2. New Iberia-72.4

3. Jeanerette-69.49