York residents are among England’s most active

Sport England’s latest survey shows that over 75% York residents are among England’s most active, and that it has the least inactive population.

The Active Lives Survey of people aged 16 or over was published on 24 April 2025. It shows that 76.5% of York’s adult population meets the Chief Medical Officers guidelines to exercise for 150 minutes or more exercise a week.

This places York as the joint fifth most active English local authority area. The nationally average figure is 63.7% and York shares fifth place with West Berkshire. 

York’s adult population is also shown to have the fewest people across English local authorities being active for 30 minutes a week or less. With just 12.9% of residents, the city ranks first nationally of all local authority areas. Residents living in North Yorkshire Council area scored at 24.3% and people nationally scored 25.1%. 

Sport England said: “York is placed first nationally of all local authority areas as it has the least number of people being physically inactive, which is a really significant achievement.”

Cllr Lucy Steels-Walshaw, Executive Member for Health, Wellbeing and Adult Social Care at City of York Council, said: “This is a fantastic achievement for the health and wellbeing of York residents. Congratulations to those active residents, sports and activity organisations benefiting from high activity rates in our city. Sporting activity is not only great for supporting a healthy lifestyle but also for the opportunities it offers to connect socially and make new friends, which benefits our mental health too.

“This represents really positive progress towards meeting the goals of our current health and wellbeing strategy.”

Peter Roderick, Director of Public Health at City of York Council, said: “If you currently don’t do much physical activity, getting even a little bit more movement in your life has been shown to be highly beneficial for health. It reduces your risk of heart disease, increases your mental wellbeing, protects bone health, and even reduces the risk of dementia in later life.”

York has over 350 sports and activity clubs which are there to help residents become and keep active. Coming later to the city this year, is the Women’s Rugby World Cup with a programme of events and activities that residents can take part in.

More ideas on how to move more are at Get active - Better Health - NHS, or visit www.york.gov.uk/HealthTrainers.