McAllen, Texas has the highest rates of obesity in the US 

The term obese describes a person who’s very overweight, with a lot of body fat. Obesity is believed to account for 80-85 percent of the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. — © Digital Journal

Increasing waistlines in the US have become a major health issue, affecting people and costing billions of dollars. With March 2024 being U.S. National Nutrition Month (led annually by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics) and with the annual medical cost of obesity reaching close to $200 billion in the U.S., the personal-finance website WalletHub has marked the occasion by releasing a report on 2024’s Most Overweight and Obese Cities in the U.S.

The report highlights the places where residents are in the most danger of weight-related health conditions, and thus need to improve their exercise and diet. Based on OECD definitions, being overweight or obese is a major risk factor for various non-communicable diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and certain cancers.

Demographically, Black adults (49.9 percent) have the highest age-adjusted prevalence of obesity, followed by Hispanic adults (45.6 percent), White adults (41.4 percent) and Asian adults (16.1 percent).

In order to call attention to the communities where weight-related problems are most prevalent, WalletHub compared 100 of the most populated U.S. metro areas across 19 key metrics. Our data set ranges from the share of physically inactive adults to projected obesity rates by 2030 to healthy-food access.

This analysis revealed the most overweight and obese cities to be:

1. McAllen, TX                        

2. Jackson, MS              

3. Shreveport, LA                    

4. Mobile, AL               

5. Little Rock, AR                   

6. Knoxville, TN                      

7. Memphis, TN                       

8. Lafayette, LA                       

9. Baton Rouge, LA                  

10. Chattanooga, TN                            

Bubbling below the top ten are: Birmingham, AL, Columbia, SC, Oklahoma City, OK, Tulsa, OK, and  Fayetteville, AR.   

With the rankings, there were some interesting variances. The McAllen, Texas, metro area has the highest share of obese adults, which is 2.4 times higher than in Asheville, North Carolina, the metro area with the lowest.

In addition, The McAllen, Texas, metro area has the highest share of physically inactive adults, which is 2.4 times higher than in Provo, Utah, the metro area with the lowest.

For a different health measure, The Mobile, Alabama, metro area has the highest share of diabetic adults, which is 2.3 times higher than in Denver, Colorado and Bridgeport, Connecticut, the metro areas with the lowest. Another health measure of importance is blood pressure. The Shreveport, Louisiana, metro area has the highest share of adults with high blood pressure, which is 1.8 times higher than in San Jose, California, the metro area with the lowest.