The City With Most Obese Residents in Every State

Published: May 6, 2024 by 24/7 Tempo Staff

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines obesity as having a weight considered unhealthy for your height. To work out if you are obese or not, you need to calculate your Body Mass Index. The calculation uses your height and weight to work out a single figure. If your BMI is 30 or higher you are regarded as obese. For example, if you are 5’ 9” tall and weigh 203 pounds or more, you would be obese.

The U.S. is experiencing what has been termed ‘an obesity epidemic’. Having increased steadily over the last few decades, obesity levels reached 41.9 percent in 2020. Some groups within the population are more likely to be obese than others. These include non-Hispanic black adults and people aged 40 to 59 years.

Obesity is associated with several health conditions. Obese people are more likely to suffer from high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, and joint and breathing problems. It also has a huge economic impact with estimated medical care costs of $173 billion per year. Loss productivity costs amount to an estimated $3.38 billion to $6.38 billion every year.

Genetics and social circumstances play a role in causing obesity but the main determinants are food, activity, and insufficient sleep. A healthy diet containing a balance of vegetables, fruit, whole grains, lean proteins, and low-fat dairy products. Avoiding foods with high sugar content, solid fats, and sodium also helps. Physical activity is also vital but levels of exercise vary as shown by the cities that hate exercise the most in every state.

24/7 Tempo used three metrics to determine the most obese city in every state — adults who are obese, report poor or fair health, and get less than seven hours of sleep a night. In the obesity category, seven Southern states were among the 10 most obese, with the remaining three cities in the Midwest states of Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois.

Here is the city with the most obese residents in every state:

Alabama: Montgomery

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Adults who are obese: 44.40% (state: 39.3%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 19.10% (state: 18.9%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 40.70% (state: 39.2%)

Alaska:

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Adults who are obese: 31.20% (state: 31.8%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 11.90% (state: 12.2%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 32.90% (state: 31.9%)

Arizona: Yuma

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Adults who are obese: 40.50% (state: 31.5%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 21.10% (state: 14.5%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 36.60% (state: 33.6%)

Arkansas: Pine Bluff

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Adults who are obese: 42.90% (state: 37.2%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 22.80% (state: 19.4%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 39.90% (state: 35.9%)

California: Merced

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Adults who are obese: 38.00% (state: 30.2%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 21.70% (state: 14.4%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 34.30% (state: 31.1%)

Colorado: Greeley

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Adults who are obese: 32.20% (state: 24.2%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 12.40% (state: 10.2%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 29.00% (state: 27.0%)

Connecticut: New Haven-Milford

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Adults who are obese: 33.30% (state: 29.5%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 11.60% (state: 11.0%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 36.40% (state: 33.0%)

Delaware: Dover

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Adults who are obese: 39.10% (state: 36.2%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 14.60% (state: 12.8%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 38.10% (state: 33.9%)

Florida: Sebring-Avon Park

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Sebring Train Station from NW (CC BY-SA 4.0) by Jhw57

Adults who are obese: 39.10% (state: 28.3%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 19.20% (state: 13.3%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 38.30% (state: 34.3%)

Georgia: Albany

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Adults who are obese: 41.40% (state: 34.3%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 20.00% (state: 15.1%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 40.70% (state: 35.8%)

Hawaii: Urban Honolulu

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Adults who are obese: 24.30% (state: 25.0%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 11.40% (state: 10.3%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 42.30% (state: 39.4%)

Idaho: Pocatello

Pocatello Idaho LDS Mormon Latter-day Saint Temple with sky clouds flowers and trees

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Adults who are obese: 36.30% (state: 31.3%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 13.60% (state: 11.8%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 33.30% (state: 29.8%)

Illinois: Rockford

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Adults who are obese: 40.90% (state: 32.5%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 15.50% (state: 12.3%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 32.20% (state: 31.9%)

Indiana: Kokomo

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Adults who are obese: 41.20% (state: 37.2%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 15.20% (state: 15.1%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 35.20% (state: 35.9%)

Iowa: Waterloo-Cedar Falls

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Cedar Falls Iowa

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Adults who are obese: 39.30% (state: 37.2%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 12.10% (state: 12.0%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 31.90% (state: 31.6%)

Kansas: Topeka

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Adults who are obese: 37.50% (state: 35.8%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 13.10% (state: 12.8%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 31.90% (state: 33.0%)

Kentucky: Elizabethtown-Fort Knox

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Adults who are obese: 39.20% (state: 37.0%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 17.80% (state: 19.5%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 38.10% (state: 39.1%)

Louisiana: Alexandria

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Adults who are obese: 43.20% (state: 38.3%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 18.60% (state: 19.0%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 37.60% (state: 36.6%)

Maine: Lewiston-Auburn

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Adults who are obese: 35.00% (state: 31.3%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 13.20% (state: 11.1%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 35.00% (state: 31.2%)

Maryland-West Virginia: Hagerstown-Martinsburg

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Adults who are obese: 37.70% (state: 30.9%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 15.10% (state: 10.6%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 38.00% (state: 34.1%)

Massachusetts-Connecticut: Worcester

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Adults who are obese: 30.30% (state: 24.5%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 11.00% (state: 10.8%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 33.30% (state: 31.6%)

Michigan: Saginaw

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Adults who are obese: 42.90% (state: 35.3%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 15.90% (state: 14.7%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 37.30% (state: 35.5%)

Minnesota: St. Cloud

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Adults who are obese: 34.80% (state: 30.6%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 11.60% (state: 10.0%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 30.80% (state: 27.8%)

Mississippi: Jackson

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Adults who are obese: 39.30% (state: 39.9%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 17.70% (state: 18.7%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 34.70% (state: 35.3%)

Missouri-Illinois: Cape Girardeau

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Adults who are obese: 40.10% (state: 34.2%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 15.50% (state: 15.2%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 33.20% (state: 34.2%)

Montana: Great Falls

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Adults who are obese: 35.00% (state: 28.9%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 12.90% (state: 12.1%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 31.00% (state: 29.7%)

Nebraska: Grand Island

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Adults who are obese: 39.00% (state: 34.0%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 12.80% (state: 10.2%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 29.90% (state: 28.9%)

Nevada: Carson City

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Adults who are obese: 34.40% (state: 28.1%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 16.30% (state: 16.7%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 35.40% (state: 35.3%)

New Hampshire: Manchester-Nashua

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Adults who are obese: 29.20% (state: 30.5%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 10.90% (state: 10.8%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 33.20% (state: 31.0%)

New Jersey: Vineland-Bridgeton

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Adults who are obese: 35.70% (state: 27.7%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 17.80% (state: 10.8%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 39.60% (state: 32.3%)

New Mexico: Farmington

Downtown sunset of Farmington New Mexico

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Adults who are obese: 35.00% (state: 31.7%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 17.70% (state: 13.8%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 36.30% (state: 30.8%)

New York: Binghamton

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Adults who are obese: 35.40% (state: 26.5%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 12.40% (state: 11.8%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 34.20% (state: 33.1%)

North Carolina: Rocky Mount

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Adults who are obese: 39.00% (state: 33.6%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 17.50% (state: 13.5%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 35.80% (state: 31.8%)

North Dakota-Minnesota: Grand Forks

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Adults who are obese: 35.90% (state: 33.6%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 11.60% (state: 11.6%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 31.90% (state: 30.5%)

Ohio: Mansfield

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Adults who are obese: 39.30% (state: 35.8%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 16.40% (state: 14.5%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 36.40% (state: 36.5%)

Oklahoma: Lawton

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Adults who are obese: 39.40% (state: 37.1%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 18.00% (state: 17.3%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 38.60% (state: 33.8%)

Oregon: Salem

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Adults who are obese: 35.50% (state: 28.3%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 15.30% (state: 12.7%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 31.10% (state: 29.0%)

Pennsylvania: Chambersburg-Waynesboro

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Adults who are obese: 40.00% (state: 31.6%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 13.70% (state: 13.1%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 36.50% (state: 37.0%)

Rhode Island-Massachusetts: Providence-Warwick

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Adults who are obese: 29.60% (state: 30.6%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 12.50% (state: 11.8%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 35.20% (state: 32.8%)

South Carolina: Florence

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Adults who are obese: 41.70% (state: 36.7%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 18.40% (state: 15.9%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 38.40% (state: 34.7%)

South Dakota: Rapid City

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Adults who are obese: 32.80% (state: 33.4%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 10.80% (state: 10.4%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 28.60% (state: 29.5%)

Tennessee: Jackson

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Adults who are obese: 40.70% (state: 35.8%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 18.00% (state: 15.7%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 35.40% (state: 34.4%)

Texas: Laredo

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Adults who are obese: 44.60% (state: 35.8%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 27.40% (state: 15.7%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 37.30% (state: 33.4%)

Utah: Ogden-Clearfield

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Adults who are obese: 32.70% (state: 29.3%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 11.40% (state: 10.9%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 33.90% (state: 30.9%)

Vermont: Burlington-South Burlington

Burlington-South+Burlington+Vermont+people | Burlington Breakwater South Lighthouse

Source: Burlington Breakwater South Lighthouse by Tony Fischer Photography / BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)

Adults who are obese: 24.40% (state: 26.3%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 9.10% (state: 10.6%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 27.00% (state: 28.9%)

Virginia: Richmond

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Richmond, Virginia

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Adults who are obese: 36.20% (state: 32.4%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 13.80% (state: 12.4%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 35.80% (state: 34.5%)

Washington: Longview

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Adults who are obese: 37.80% (state: 28.0%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 14.50% (state: 11.8%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 37.20% (state: 29.9%)

West Virginia: Beckley

This is a photo of the Bridge in Beckley West Virginia and the New River Gorge under the bridge.

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Adults who are obese: 41.80% (state: 39.6%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 21.70% (state: 20.0%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 43.20% (state: 40.5%)

Wisconsin: Racine

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Adults who are obese: 36.10% (state: 32.7%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 12.70% (state: 12.4%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 33.30% (state: 31.2%)

Wyoming: Casper

Aerial View of Downtown Casper, Wyoming at Dusk on Christmas Day

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Adults who are obese: 34.00% (state: 30.6%)
Adults who report poor or fair health: 12.20% (state: 11.5%)
Adults who get <7 hours of sleep a night: 33.50% (state: 33.1%)