The Most Obese Cities In America

January 3, 2014

Despite all of the attention given to the disease of obesity in the past few years, some cities in metropolitan America are getting fatter and fatter.  According to a report published by the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index  Boulder, Colorado ranks as the least obese city for the third year in a row.  But the distinction of being the fattest region in America goes to the residents of McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas.  Out of the 189 metro areas surveyed in 2012, only two cities had a rating below 15%.  (Boulder and Charlottesville, NC.)

The most obese metropolitan cities and obesity percentages in America are:

11.  Beaumont Port-Arthur, Texas:  32.5% obese

10.  Erie, Pennsylvania:  32.5%

9.  Reading, Pennsylvania:  32.8%

8.  Charleston, West Virginia:  32.9%

7.  Toledo, Ohio:  33%

6.  Myrtle Beach-North Myrtle Beach-Conway, South Carolina:  33.1%

5.  Hagerstown-Martinsburg, Maryland-West Virginia:  33.4%

4.  Mobile, Alabama:  33.7%

3.  Little Rock-North Little Rock, Conway, Arkansas:  34.7%

2.  Huntington-Ashland, West Virginia-Kentucky-Ohio:  37.7%

1.  McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas:  38.5%

The survey revealed that low income areas tend to be more obese and that residents of the most obese cities tend to exercise less often.  Consistent with past findings, smaller metro areas were more likely to have higher obesity rates.

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