Here’s Where CA Ranks Among The Most Obese States

CALIFORNIA — Obesity is second only to smoking as the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, but how big is the problem in California?

Nationally, 4 in 10 U.S. adults ages 20 and older are obese, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Rates are lower for children and adolescents but have risen drastically in the past few decades.

California ranks among the states with the least obesity, according to an analysis from the personal finance website WalletHub that uses publicly available data from the CDC, Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics and USDA, as well as data from health advocacy groups. WalletHub ranked all 50 states plus Washington DC.

The states with lowest obesity rates in the nation include:

• Hawaii, 46th
• California, 48th
• Massachusetts, 49th
• Utah, 50th
• Colorado, 51st

Top 5 most overweight states include:

• West Virginia, 1st
• Mississippi, 2nd
• Arkansas, 3rd
• Louisiana, 4th,
• Alabama, 5th

A separate report by WalletHub examined obesity rates in 100 cities, using factors including Obesity & Overweight Ranking, Health Consequences, and Food & Fitness rankings. California's major metropolitan areas showed total scores that ranked them as follows:

• Riverside ranks 47th
• Los Angeles ranks 83rd
• San Diego ranks 84th
• Sacramento ranks 90th
• San Jose ranks 94th
• San Francisco ranks 97th

Obesity, which has nearly tripled over the past 60 years in the United States, is considered a public health crisis, in part due to its overlap and causal relationship with other diseases, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes and several types of cancer. Obesity also greatly increases the risks of mortality and disability.

Lack of physical activity is a leading cause of rising obesity rates, according to recent findings by the Physical Activity Council. According to the report, 61.8 million Americans aged 6 and older were completely inactive in 2024.

Obesity costs the U.S. health care system around $173 billion per year, according to the CDC. Americans spend an estimated $90 billion on weight-loss and diet control aids.