General

Just kind of curious what parts of the US or specific locations people consider to be fatter than others. I know I could probably look up statistics, but that's boring. I'm more interested in hearing what others say here, I'm from a part of the country where I always have heard there's less fat people, so I'm curious.

The general consensus is down South. And the further south you go, the bigger people get. So don't go to places that are in the South on a technicality like VA. Gotta go to the Dirty South to places like Louisiana and Mississippi.

Numbers regarding obesity rates by state and large metro area do indeed change from year to year.

However, the top 3 heaviest states in most recent years have generally been Arkansas, Mississippi, and West Virginia.

Colorado has been consistently the skinniest - glad I don't live there.

But what might be just as important, is how cities/metro areas of substantial population might rank. This is something I found with recent data, which I find illuminating.

www.advisory.com/daily-briefing/2025/03/19/overweight-cities

These studies are not based on anyone's size. They are based on the number of gyms per capita, the number of fast food restaurants per capita, and other nonsense. For example, a number of fast foods may be on turnpikes to serve out of state people. The gyms don't take into account how many people use them. I don't think you can assume that only thin people use gyms, and only fat people eat fast food.

Oklahoma has alot of fat people 😁

Everything is fried here in Mississippi, hence the state always being among the fattest. Best way to say it is there’s a lot of confident people here :-)