The prevalence of obesity among adults in the United States increased to 30.1 percent in 2017, up from 29.6 percent in 2016, according to SHADAC’s analysis of new Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
* Change from previous year statistically significant at the 95% confidence level
Obesity increased in six states; no states saw decreases
Six states (IA, MA, OH, OK, RI, and SC) experienced significant increases in the prevalence of obesity. Iowa had the largest significant increase at 4.4 percentage points, with the state’s obesity rate rising from 32.0 percent in 2016 to 36.4 percent in 2017. South Carolina experienced the smallest significant increase at 1.8 percentage points, with an increase from 32.3 percent in 2016 to 34.1 percent in 2017. No state experienced a significant decrease in the prevalence of obesity.
* Change from previous year statistically significant at the 95% confidence level
Substantial variation in prevalence of obesity across states
There is significant variation in the prevalence of adult obesity across the states, ranging from a high of 38.1 percent in West Virginia to a low of 22.6 percent in Colorado. Sixteen states, and the District of Columbia, had rates of obesity significantly below the national average, 21 states had rates significantly above the national average, and 13 states had rates that were not significantly different from the national average. The table below shows the states with the five highest and five lowest rates of adult obesity in 2017.
Explore further on SHADAC’s State Health Compare
State Health Compare allows users to dig deeper into adult obesity, providing state-level estimates from 2005 to 2017 with breakdowns by race/ethnicity and education. Users are also able to go back as far as 2001 to find data on obesity among high-school age students using the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS).
State Health Compare also features state-level data on more than 40 additional measures from 16 data sources. State Health Compare allows users to compare states, examine trends over time, and download data visualizations such as 50-state maps, bar charts, and tables.
Notes
Adult obesity is defined as the prevalence of obesity among adults for the civilian non-institutionalized population 18 years and over. Obesity is defined as a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 and above. All data presented in this post come from SHADAC’s analysis of the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) public use files and can be found at statehealthcompare.shadac.org. All differences described in this analysis are statistically significant at a two-sided 95% confidence interval.