Boston ranks near the top among fittest US cities

If there’s one thing the list-makers of the world love, it’s putting Boston on its lists of things — often near the top.

A new list to add to the list (a list about fitness) was no different.

Where did Boston rank? Seventh.

Looks like you didn’t wear out those New Balances on the Esplanade for nothing, huh?

Specifically, the study refers to Boston’s Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), a big chunk of land that includes 4.7 million people.

The American College of Sports Medicine, which publishesthe American Fitness Index every year, created the list.

“The report is a one-of-a-kind, evidence-based analysis of each MSA’s strengths and challenges, providing substantive data that can be used to affect real change,” wrote Craig Samitt, chief clinical officer of study-funder the Anthem Foundation, in a statement.

The researchers study how healthy residents of a bunch of cities are: the mortality rate, the number of people with asthma, the number of people who smoke.

It also takes into account things like number of parks and how the city ranks according to the company Walk Score, which crunches data on how good a place is for people to get around on foot.

According to the study, Greater Boston gets bonus points for its walkability, the number of parks and farmers markets it has and the proportion of people who get to work using the public transportation.

Ways the Boston area can improve include adding more recreation centers and swimming pools, according to the study.

What was the fittest metropolitan area in the country this year, according to the list? Washington, D.C.