Americans Keep Getting Fatter, Especially in the South

Los Angeles—In 1995, no state had an obesity rate above 20 percent. Now, all but one does.


An annual obesity report by two public health groups looked for the first time at state-by-state statistics over the last two decades. The number of obese U.S. adults rose in 16 states in the last year, helping to push obesity rates in a dozen states above 30 percent, according to a recently released report.

Mississippi is the fattest state in the union with an adult obesity rate of 34.4 percent. Colorado is the least obese—with a rate of only 19.8 percent—and the only state with an adult obesity rate below 20 percent, according to “F as in Fat,” an annual report from the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

“When you look at it year by year, the changes are incremental,” says Jeffrey Levi, executive director of the Trust for America’s Health, which writes the annual report with the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation. “When you look at it by a generation you see how we get into this problem.”

Obesity rates did not decline in any state and even Colorado does not win high marks—it’s score means one in five state residents is at a higher risk for conditions like heart disease and diabetes.

“Today, the state with the lowest adult obesity rate would have the highest rate in 1995,” said Levi.

Four years ago, only one U.S. state had an adult obesity rate above 30 percent, according to the report. Obesity is defined as a body mass index – the weight to height ratio – of 30 or more.

The study, based on 2010 data, says a dozen states top the 30 percent obesity, most of them in the South. Mississippi topped the list for the seventh year in a row, with Alabama, West Virginia, Tennessee and Louisiana close behind. Just five years ago, in 2006, Mississippi was the only state above 30 percent.