State of Obesity Report 2025 : Better Policies for a Healthier America
This annual report tracks U.S. obesity rates by state, race, gender, and age and recommends policy action to address the nation's obesity crisis. Analyzing 2024 data, the report found a first time decrease in states with adult obesity rates over 35 percent but warns that this progress is limited and at risk due to federal budget cuts and staffing reductions.
(Washington, DC – October 16, 2025) – New data found that nineteen states had adult obesity rates at or above 35 percent in 2024, down from 23 states the prior year, a first time decrease in the number of states at or above the 35 percent level for this dataset.
However, according to the report authors, this progress is limited and at risk due in part to recent federal actions to claw back and reduce funding for public health programs, eliminate programs and lay off experts that work on chronic disease prevention, and limit access to nutrition supports.
The report, based in part on TFAH’s analysis of 2024 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), and data from the 2021-2023 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), shows that while the rise in the number of U.S. adults with obesity slowed in some states, the nation’s overall obesity rate continues to be alarmingly high. Nationally, 4 in 10 American adults have obesity.
The report highlights the federal programs that seek to address rising rates of chronic diseases like obesity. However, the president’s fiscal year (FY) 2026 budget request proposes the near total elimination of the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion at CDC. The center’s work includes cornerstone programs that fund state, local, tribal, and territorial efforts to address and prevent obesity, diabetes, heart disease and stroke, and other chronic diseases.
“Structural barriers to healthy eating and physical activity need continued policy attention and investment,” said J. Nadine Gracia, M.D., MSCE, President and CEO of Trust for America’s Health. “It is vital that government and other sectors invest in – not cut – proven programs that support good nutrition and physical activity and ensure they reach all communities.”
Key findings from the report include:
- The states with the highest rates of obesity among adults in 2024 were West Virginia (41.4%), Mississippi (40.4%), and Louisiana (39.2%) (2024 data from BRFSS).
- States with lowest levels of adult obesity in 2024 were Colorado (25.0%), Hawaii (27.0%), and Massachusetts (27.0%) plus Washington, D.C. (25.5%) (2024 data from BRFSS).
- Black and Latino adults had the highest rates of obesity at 49.9 percent and 45.6 percent respectively.
- People living in rural communities tend to have higher rates of obesity compared to people living in metro areas.
- Obesity levels are typically lower among people with college degrees and for people with higher household incomes, suggesting that the affordability of healthy foods plays a role in nation’s rates of people with obesity.
Obesity rates are increasing among children and adolescents, with just over 21 percent of U.S. children and adolescents, ages 2 to 19, having obesity nationwide (2021–2023 NHANES).
- These rates have more than tripled since the mid-1970s, and Black and Latino youth have substantially higher rates of obesity compared to their Asian and white peers.
Obesity and other diet-related diseases are associated with a range of physical and mental health conditions, higher mortality, higher healthcare costs, and productivity losses. While obesity rates depend on many factors, economic and community context shape Americans’ daily life and available choices around healthy food, physical activity, education, jobs, stress, and financial security, which systematically affect people’s weight and health.
While obesity rates have increased for all population groups, groups with higher rates, including people who live in rural communities and some populations of color, typically face more structural barriers to healthy eating, including food cost and access and a lack of opportunities and safe places to be physically active in their neighborhoods.
The report includes a special feature on the emerging science and policy considerations concerning ultra-processed foods and their role in the obesity crisis, an issue that is gaining increased national attention and is a focus of the Make America Healthy Again effort.
The report includes recommendations for policy action by the administration, Congress, and states to address the nation’s obesity crisis, including:
- Retain and strengthen the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion at CDC.
- Reverse cuts or proposed cuts to nutrition support programs while improving the nutritional quality of available foods, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC).
- The Food and Drug Administration should implement a front-of-package nutrition label requirement to help consumers make informed choices.
- Ensure access to healthcare, including obesity prevention and treatment programs, by reversing cuts to Medicaid and marketplace subsidies.
- Address upstream drivers and root causes of health disparities and target obesity prevention programs to communities with the highest needs.
- Make physical activity more accessible by increasing evidence-based initiatives that support active transportation and physical activity in communities.
- Address industry marketing and pricing strategies to reduce advertising of unhealthy foods to children.
