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About 42 percent of U.S. adults are obese, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This is up from 30.5 percent obesity in the adult population in 2000. A person is considered obese if their body mass index exceeds 30.
Some places in the U.S. have more of a bulge to battle than others. A new ranking of America's most overweight and obese cities shows how the states' major metro areas compare to the rest of the country.
The WalletHub study, "2021’s Most Overweight and Obese Cities in the U.S.," analyzed data from 100 of the country’s most populated metro regions to rank which has the most overweight and obese adults. The U.S. has about 390 metropolitan statistical areas. The ranking includes three Massachusetts metros.
The Worcester region is the fattest in the state, according to WalletHub, though it did not place very high overall. The area ranked as the 77th fattest large metro in the country.
Also on the list were the Springfield area, which came in at 85, and the Boston-Cambridge-Newton region which took the 98th spot.
Overall, the most obese metro in the U.S. is the McAllen-Edinburg-Mission area in Texas. Rounding out the top 5 most overweight metros in the U.S. are metro areas in Arkansas and Louisiana.
The least obese community on the list was Honolulu, Hawaii. Other communities at the low end of the ranking (which means less obesity) include Denver, Boston, Minneapolis, and San Jose, California.
WalletHub compiled its ranking by analyzing 19 indicators including weight-related problems, physical inactivity, obesity rates, and healthy-food access.
To read the full study, visit wallethub.com.
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