Obesity Rates in America, Fattest and Thinnest States

Is Your State Overweight?

By Mary Kearl

While the national obesity rates seem to be reaching a plateau, reversing a 25-year waist-widening trend, levels of obesity are still high. More than one-third of U.S. adults, or over 72 million people, were obese in 2005-2006, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Think you know which states carry the lightest and heaviest loads? Here we run down the five thinnest and five fattest states, based on the results from CalorieLab's 2008 report of the 50 states and D.C.

*Note: Obesity is defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher. BMI is calculated using a person's weight and height. Obesity is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, certain types of cancer, and type 2 diabetes. Overweight is defined as a BMI between 25 and 29.9. A healthy or normal BMI is one that falls within the 18-24.9 range.

Thinnest State: Colorado

Obese Population: 19%
Overweight or Obese Population: 56%

Taking a cue from the national program Healthy People 2010, a federal program which evaluates and implements programs to address health concerns like obesity, Colorado has its own Colorado Physical Activity and Nutrition State Plan 2010. According to Colorado's plan from the department of health, some of the reasons it says it remains the state with the lowest obesity rate is because compared with the overall U.S. population it has a lower median age, a lower proportion of blacks and a higher proportion of Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites, higher levels of education and household income.

2nd Thinnest State: Hawaii

Obese Population: 22%
Overweight or Obese Population: 57%

While Hawaii is certainly one of the leaner states in the nation, these data may not represent a clear picture of what obesity in Hawaii looks like. Specifically, Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander populations are more at risk for overweight and obesity and obesity-attributable health complications than other ethnic groups, according to Brooke Evans's social work and public policy paper "Obesity in Hawaii: Health Policy Options, " for the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Cultural differences may be at play, but, Evans notes that these populations are also more likely to experience poverty, hunger and inadequate nutrition.


3rd Thinnest State: Connecticut

Obese Population: 22%
Overweight or Obese Population: 59%

While on average Connecticut residents are certainly lighter than their more Southern counterparts, that doesn't mean they're free from obesity and obesity-related health risks -- Connecticut's obesity rates nearly doubled from 1990 to 2004, the state spent $856 million on obesity-related health problems in 2003, and more than 3,000 people die annually from obesity-related causes, according to the Connecticut General Assembly's "Weighing in on Childhood Obesity."


4th Thinnest State: Massachusetts

Obese Population: 22%
Overweight or Obese Population: 59%

This state's below-average waistline comes at a price -- the estimated obesity-attributable expenditures for adults was $1,822 million for 1998-2001, among the highest in the nation, according to the CDC. New York took the cake with a price tag of $6080 million.


5th Thinnest State: Vermont

Obese Population: 22%
Overweight or Obese Population: 59%

Even though this state ends up on the thinner side of things, its obesity rates have been soaring along with the nation. The prevalence of obesity among Vermont adults has doubled between 1990 and 2007, according to the Vermont Department of Health, and youths have been gaining as well. The CDC's 2007 Vermont Youth Risk Behavior Survey indicates that 52 percent of high school students did not meet recommended levels of physical activity and that almost 60 percent did not attend physical education classes. In 2005, among school-age children from eighth to twelfth grades, nearly one fourth were above a healthy weight, and among lower-income students 29 percent were overweight or at risk for it.


5th Most Obese State: South Carolina

Obese Population: 29%
Overweight or Obese Population: 59%

Numerous factors contribute to South Carolina's obesity rates. For starters, less than a fourth of all South Carolinians consume the recommended number of fruits and vegetables per day and 55 percent of South Carolinians get insufficient amounts of exercise or are inactive, according to South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SDHEC). The costs of this lifestyle add up -- obesity-related medical expenditures in South Carolina topped $1 billion dollars in 2003 and South Carolina has the second highest rate of stroke, for which obesity is a risk factor in the U.S., according to SDHEC.


4th Most Obese State: Louisiana

Obese Population: 31%
Overweight or Obese Population: 65%

This state is ranked ninth highest in the nation for its rate of overweight youths (ages 10-17), according to the Trust for America's Health report. As a result of high youth obesity rates reflective of the national trend, Louisianan children are being diagnosed with adult diseases. This state also had one of the highest percentages of people who didn't participate in any leisure-time physical activity in 2007, with 30 percent of the population reporting that they didn't participate in activities like running, golf, gardening or walking in the previous month, according to the CDC's U.S. and Physical Activity Statistics.


3rd Most Obese State: Alabama

Obese Population: 31%
Overweight or Obese Population: 67%

In 2007, this state was among those reporting low incidence of meeting the government's recommended physical activity -- defined as at least five days a week for 30 minutes a day of moderate intensity activity or at least three days a week for 20 minutes a day of vigorous intensity activity. By race, white males had the highest percentage of overweight in Alabama, while black Alabamians had the highest percentage of obesity, according to a 2001 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey from the CDC. In the nation, Alabama ranks fifth for death rates caused by heart disease, seventh for stroke and 10th for diabetes -- all obesity-related diseases, according to the Alabama Center for Health Statistics obesity fact sheet.


2nd Most Obese State: West Virginia

Obese Population: 30%
Overweight or Obese Population: 68%

West Virginians have their work cut out for them if they're going to achieve the West Virginia Healthy People 2010 goal of having obesity rates drop 10 percent from the current 30 percent to 20 percent by 2010.