Canberrans are spending an average $1640.08 a year keeping fit, the highest of any Australian capital, according to new research that ranks Canberra the country’s least fitness-friendly city.

The research by sports equipment retailer Net World Sports gives Canberra an overall fitness index score of 36.75 out of 100, compared with top-ranked Adelaide’s 81.9. The findings draw on AusPlay expenditure data, ABS earnings and inflation figures, advertised gym prices and a survey of 1000 Australian adults.

Canberra has the country’s highest average gym and fitness studio costs at $1036.61 a year, with Canberrans spending $305 more than the national average on fitness, making it the only capital where gym costs exceed $1000.

Despite its reputation as the bush capital, Canberra has the country’s lowest active green-space density, at 47.25 per 100,000 people, while paying the most for outdoor and active recreation at $392.45 a year.

It nevertheless has the highest density of outdoor recreation courts and skateparks.

Canberrans also spend an average 1.97 per cent of their income on keeping active, despite having the highest median earnings of any capital at $83,200. Only Hobart and Melbourne have higher cost-to-income ratios, at 2.21 per cent and 2.03 per cent respectively.

The ACT also has the highest proportion of adults nationally who pay to participate in sport or fitness, at 58.3 per cent, against a national average of 52.3 per cent.

Adelaide topped the national index on the back of the country’s cheapest gym, outdoor recreation and community sport costs, with Perth and Brisbane rounding out the top three.

Nationally, more than half of adults surveyed – 53.3 per cent – say costs have changed at least one of their fitness habits in the past year, with 17.6 per cent switching to free alternatives such as running or home workouts and 3.5 per cent stopping exercise altogether.

Fitness costs have risen 36.1 per cent since 2014, broadly in line with general inflation of 38.2 per cent, although entry-level gym membership prices have risen faster over the past five years.

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