Happy National Nutrition Month! With Americans collectively spending up to $315.8 billion annually on obesity-related medical treatment, the personal finance website WalletHub took an in-depth look at 2016’s Fattest Cities in America.
In order to call attention to the communities where weight-related problems are most prevalent, WalletHub’s analysts compared 100 of the most populated U.S. metro areas across 14 key metrics. They range from “percentage of adults and high school students who are obese” to “percentage of people who are physically inactive.”
| Fattest Metro Areas | Thinnest Metro Areas | ||||
| 1 | Memphis, TN | 91 | Tucson, AZ | ||
| 2 | Shreveport, LA | 92 | Denver, CO | ||
| 3 | Indianapolis, IN | 93 | Colorado Springs, CO | ||
| 4 | Jackson, MS | 94 | San Francisco, CA | ||
| 5 | New Orleans, LA | 95 | Boston, MA | ||
| 6 | Chattanooga, TN | 96 | Sacramento, CA | ||
| 7 | Mobile, AL | 97 | Las Vegas, NV | ||
| 8 | San Antonio, TX | 98 | Boise, ID | ||
| 9 | Greenville, SC | 99 | Reno, NV | ||
| 10 | Little Rock, AR | 100 | Honolulu, HI | ||
Comparing the Fattest & Thinnest
- The Memphis, TN-MS-AR, metro area has the highest percentage of obese adults, 36.8 percent, which is two times higher than in San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA, the metro area with the lowest, 18.9 percent.
- The Memphis, TN-MS-AR, metro area has the highest percentage of physically inactive adults, 34.7 percent, which is three times higher than in San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA, the metro area with the lowest, 14.1 percent.
- The Canton-Massillon, OH, metro area has the highest percentage of diabetic adults, 15.4 percent, which is three times higher than in Provo-Orem, UT, the metro area with the lowest, 5.0 percent.
- The Mobile, AL, metro area has the highest percentage of adults with high blood pressure, 42.5 percent, which is two times higher than in Provo-Urem, UT, the metro area with the lowest, 19.5 percent.
By Richie Bernardo for a WalletHub News Release for SouthFloridaReporter.com, Mar. 24, 2016
