The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued its 2019 Adult Obesity Prevalence Maps for 49 states, the District of Columbia and two U.S. territories. Obesity is defined as an adult body mass index over 30. The American figure has continued to rise, year after year, decade after decade. Mississippi had the highest level of obesity at 40.8%. It was joined at the top of the list by several other southern states.

The CDC takes a great deal of interest in obesity because of the health care problems it tends to trigger. Among these are heart disease and diabetes. Many forms of cancer are linked to obesity as well. A recent Harvard study showed that obesity costs the American economy $190 billion each year. This includes health care costs, lost wages, lost work (which affects companies who employ obese people) and insurance. Presumably, as the obesity figures rise, so do the costs.

The obesity rate was 35% or higher in 12 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia. Most are south of the Mason-Dixon line.

Obesity tends to be linked with education and age, the CDC reports. Adults who do not have a high school degree or equivalent had the highest obesity rates at 36.2%. High school graduates posted a 34.3% number. Adults with some college education had a 32.8% obesity rate. For college graduates, the figure was 25.0%.

The obesity figures are “self-reported,” which means people supplied their own weight. That calls into question, at least a bit, the accuracy of the figures. Surveys that rely on self-reported data are less expensive than those in which a more rigorous methodology is used. However, as an article in Science Direct pointed out: “For a given true health status, individuals are likely to use different reference points depending on their demographic and socio-economic characteristics.” It is not so much that some people lie, as that they misinterpret then own health status.

In terms of age, adults between 18 and 24 years old had an obesity rate of 18.9%. Adults between aged 45 to 54 years old had a rate of 37.6%.

Among the connections made between the demographic groups and geographic areas is that people in southern states tended to have lower education status and, therefore, are more likely to be obese. It is probably not the other way around. Some scientists say that the accuracy of the relationship would need to be much more carefully cemented by additional research.

Here are the states and territories, ranked by obesity rate:

State/Territory	Obesity Rate
Mississippi	40.8
West Virginia	39.7
Arkansas	37.4
Oklahoma	36.8
Kentucky	36.5
Tennessee	36.5
Alabama	36.1
Michigan	36.0
Louisiana	35.9
South Carolina	35.4
Indiana	35.3
Kansas	35.2
Missouri	34.8
North Dakota	34.8
Ohio	34.8
Delaware	34.4
Wisconsin	34.2
Nebraska	34.1
North Carolina	34.0
Texas	34.0
Iowa	33.9
Guam	33.6
Pennsylvania	33.2
Georgia	33.1
South Dakota	33.0
Puerto Rico	32.5
Maryland	32.3
Virginia	31.9
New Hampshire	31.8
Maine	31.7
New Mexico	31.7
Illinois	31.6
Arizona	31.4
Nevada	30.6
Alaska	30.5
Minnesota	30.1
Rhode Island	30.0
Wyoming	29.7
Idaho	29.5
Utah	29.2
Connecticut	29.1
Oregon	29.0
Montana	28.3
Washington	28.3
New York	27.1
Florida	27.0
Vermont	26.6
California	26.2
Massachusetts	25.2
Hawaii	25.0
Colorado	23.8
District of Columbia	23.8

Note: There was insufficient data from New Jersey.

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