Iowa Remains As One Of The Fattest States In The U.S.

I feel like this list comes out every year to make Iowa residents feel bad about themselves right before Thanksgiving. It's the list of this year's most overweight and obese states and once again, Iowa is high on this list.

Iowa not only is still towards the top of this list, it actually went up compared to last year. Clearly, Iowans didn't get the point or didn't care since it's still one of the fattest states in the U.S.

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Iowa Has Gotten Heavier

Every year around this time, WalletHub puts out its list of the year's Most Overweight & Obese States not to make us feel bad, but it still makes us feel bad. They compared states across three key dimensions, obesity and overweight prevalence, health consequences, and food and fitness to determine who is overweight and who isn't.

Not only is Iowa still towards the top of this list, but it actually has gone up meaning Iowans have gotten heavier.

Last year, Iowa was the 16th most overweight and obese state. In 2023, Iowa has cracked the top 15 landing at number 15. Where did we go up? We increased in the health consequences and food and fitness categories.

More Proof Iowa Needs Has A Weight Problem

I'm no skinny mini by any means, but there is substantial proof that Iowa could benefit from a treadmill or dieting.

Earlier this year, Axios released its data showing the obesity problem in each state and it's on par with this latest study from WalletHub.

In Iowa, 47.6% of the adult population is living with Obesity Category 1 or above. That means Iowa is in the top 10 in the nation for the highest average obesity rate.

I guess we like WalletHub's ranking a lot better than the Axios data.