US States With the Highest Obesity ()
49 US states ranked by obesity (), from highest to lowest. First are West Virginia (42.3), Mississippi (40.9) and Arkansas (40.7). The middle one of the 49 has 34.4.
What this measures
Adults with a body mass index (a measure of weight for height) of 30 or more, worked out from the height and weight they reported themselves. Source: .
For most measures, a national ranking mostly sorts places by income and by how urban they are. Each county’s own page compares it with the 50 counties most like it instead, which is often the fairer view.
Every state
| Rank | State | % of adults |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Virginia | 42.3 |
| 2 | Mississippi | 40.9 |
| 3 | Arkansas | 40.7 |
| 4 | Louisiana | 40.2 |
| 5 | Alabama | 39.8 |
| 6 | Oklahoma | 39.5 |
| 7 | Indiana | 38.3 |
| 8 | Iowa | 38.2 |
| 9 | Tennessee | 38.1 |
| 10 | New Mexico | 37 |
| 11 | Nebraska | 37 |
| 12 | Ohio | 36.9 |
| 13 | South Dakota | 36.6 |
| 14 | Kansas | 36.6 |
| 15 | North Dakota | 36.4 |
| 16 | South Carolina | 36.2 |
| 17 | Illinois | 36 |
| 18 | Delaware | 35.9 |
| 19 | Wisconsin | 35.8 |
| 20 | Michigan | 35.7 |
| 21 | Alaska | 35.4 |
| 22 | Missouri | 35.4 |
| 23 | Georgia | 35.3 |
| 24 | Texas | 34.7 |
| 25 | Virginia | 34.4 |
| 26 | Maryland | 34 |
| 27 | North Carolina | 33.9 |
| 28 | Wyoming | 33.5 |
| 29 | Oregon | 33.5 |
| 30 | New Hampshire | 33.2 |
| 31 | Maine | 33.2 |
| 32 | Minnesota | 33.2 |
| 33 | Rhode Island | 32.6 |
| 34 | Arizona | 32.4 |
| 35 | Idaho | 31.1 |
| 36 | Nevada | 31 |
| 37 | Utah | 30.9 |
| 38 | Washington | 30.8 |
| 39 | Montana | 30.5 |
| 40 | Florida | 29.8 |
| 41 | Vermont | 29.6 |
| 42 | Connecticut | 29.4 |
| 43 | New Jersey | 28.7 |
| 44 | New York | 28.1 |
| 45 | California | 28 |
| 46 | Massachusetts | 27.3 |
| 47 | Hawaii | 27 |
| 48 | Colorado | 24.7 |
| 49 | District of Columbia | 24.2 |
More on obesity ()
A ranking describes places, not the people in them, and a high or low place does not by itself say why. All US rankings.