The American
Health Map

Here is the map the title promises. Every state is shaded by the share of adults who are obese - a body-mass index of 30 or higher, from self-reported height and weight. Nationally the figure sits near 34.3%; the darkest states below run past forty. A clear band of the highest prevalence follows the lower Mississippi and into Appalachia, the leanest states cluster in the Mountain West and the Northeast.

Hover a state for its figures

Every state, all four indicators

State	Obesity	Smoking	Diabetes	Skipped care
West Virginia WV	41.4	20.8	18.4	13.1
Mississippi MS	40.4	13.8	15.2	14.7
Louisiana LA	39.2	15.0	15.4	14.8
Alabama AL	38.9	14.0	15.1	14.1
Arkansas AR	38.9	16.5	15.3	15.3
Indiana IN	38.4	13.9	14.3	11.5
Nebraska NE	37.6	12.2	10.5	11.4
Kansas KS	37.6	13.7	12.5	11.5
Wisconsin WI	37.4	11.9	11.9	10.1
Kentucky KY	37.2	17.2	16.2	12.3
South Dakota SD	37.0	13.5	11.8	8.9
Ohio OH	36.9	14.1	13.1	10.2
North Dakota ND	36.8	12.3	10.6	8.3
Oklahoma OK	36.8	14.1	13.2	14.9
Delaware DE	36.6	10.1	13.3	9.5
Iowa IA	36.6	12.9	11.4	8.0
Michigan MI	36.1	13.4	13.6	11.3
Texas TX	35.6	10.0	13.5	17.4
Georgia GA	35.4	11.2	12.8	16.4
Missouri MO	34.6	14.7	11.2	11.3
South Carolina SC	34.6	12.6	13.9	13.8
New Mexico NM	34.5	12.0	12.3	12.5
North Carolina NC	34.5	11.5	13.2	11.3
Nevada NV	34.3	11.9	13.6	16.7
All States and DC (median) ** UW	34.2	11.6	12.0	11.5
Pennsylvania PA	34.2	11.7	13.3	9.8
Illinois IL	34.2	10.5	12.8	11.7
Alaska AK	34.0	14.7	9.4	11.9
Oregon OR	33.5	10.6	12.0	11.5
Arizona AZ	33.3	10.2	11.5	13.1
Maine ME	33.2	14.4	11.5	9.2
Idaho ID	32.7	9.6	9.3	11.7
Maryland MD	32.7	7.8	12.4	10.1
Wyoming WY	32.5	12.7	10.1	12.1
Minnesota MN	32.3	10.2	10.1	9.7
Virginia VA	32.3	11.1	12.9	9.6
Connecticut CT	32.0	9.0	11.7	9.9
Washington WA	31.5	7.9	9.9	10.5
Rhode Island RI	31.1	9.9	11.6	10.0
New Hampshire NH	31.1	9.1	10.1	8.6
Utah UT	31.0	5.7	8.7	13.1
Montana MT	31.0	12.2	8.7	12.0
Florida FL	29.6	10.6	11.9	14.3
New York NY	29.5	9.9	12.3	11.3
California CA	29.1	7.6	12.6	11.6
Vermont VT	29.0	10.5	8.9	7.9
New Jersey NJ	27.6	8.6	10.8	12.9
Massachusetts MA	27.0	8.8	9.6	8.2
Hawaii HI	27.0	8.1	11.5	6.4
District of Columbia DC	25.5	8.5	8.4	8.7
Colorado CO	25.0	9.7	8.4	14.1
United States US	34.3	11.5	12.3	11.5

All figures are percent of adults, latest survey year. Obesity shades the map; the other three columns are the same states read on the other indicators (their own maps would tell a different story - smoking peaks in Appalachia, skipped-care in the non-expansion South). CDC BRFSS prevalence, latest survey year - see Methodology.

The map tells you where obesity is heavy; it does not tell you how far apart the states have drifted. Stack the fifty-one reporting places by prevalence and the country spreads across 16.5 points - from Colorado near 25.0% to West Virginia past forty. The pile is not centered on the national mean of 34.3%; it leans heavy, a long tail of states running well above it.

Bin counts

Band (% obese)	States	Which
24-26	2	CO DC
26-28	3	HI MA NJ
28-30	4	CA FL NY VT
30-32	5	MT NH RI UT WA
32-34	10	AK AZ CT ID ME MD MN OR VA WY
34-36	10	UW GA IL MO NV NM NC PA SC TX
36-38	11	DE IA KS KY MI NE ND OH OK SD WI
38-40	4	AL AR IN LA
40-42	2	MS WV

One metric can flatter a state. This ranks each of the 51 places on all four indicators - obesity, smoking, diabetes, and skipped care - then averages the four ranks into a single burden score, where 1.00 is best. The chips show where a state lands on each measure; a low score everywhere is how you top the list.

Score = the mean of a state's rank (1 = lowest prevalence) across the four indicators. Bar length is the score relative to the worst state. Chips read Obe/Smk/Dia/Cost with each sub-rank out of 51.

Over the decade, adult smoking fell in 51 of the 51 reporting places - the clearest public-health win in the whole dataset. Nationally it dropped 9.7 points. The bars run from a shared center: teal to the left is a decline (good), warm to the right a rise. The catch: obesity moved the other way over the same years, up 6.6 points nationally. Smoking is the story of a habit beaten; weight is the story it did not touch.

Read the decade a second way. Each line ties a state's 2011 obesity rate to its latest - and there is no down-slope to find. Obesity climbed in all 51 of the 51 reporting places, the nation as a whole up +6.6 points. The heaviest states did not run away from the pack so much as the whole pack moved up together; Nevada rose fastest, at +9.8 points, but even the slowest riser, District of Columbia, still gained +1.7.

Every state, 2011 to latest

State	2011	Latest	Change
Nevada NV	24.5	34.3	+9.8
Wisconsin WI	27.7	37.4	+9.7
Nebraska NE	28.4	37.6	+9.3
North Dakota ND	27.8	36.8	+9.0
West Virginia WV	32.4	41.4	+9.0
South Dakota SD	28.1	37.0	+8.9
Arizona AZ	25.1	33.3	+8.2
New Mexico NM	26.3	34.5	+8.2
Arkansas AR	30.9	38.9	+8.0
Kansas KS	29.6	37.6	+8.0
Delaware DE	28.8	36.6	+7.8
Indiana IN	30.8	38.4	+7.6
Iowa IA	29.0	36.6	+7.6
Connecticut CT	24.5	32.0	+7.5
Wyoming WY	25.0	32.5	+7.5
Georgia GA	28.0	35.4	+7.4
Ohio OH	29.7	36.9	+7.2
Illinois IL	27.1	34.2	+7.1
Alabama AL	32.0	38.9	+6.9
Kentucky KY	30.4	37.2	+6.8
Oregon OR	26.7	33.5	+6.8
Alaska AK	27.4	34.0	+6.6
Minnesota MN	25.7	32.3	+6.6
Utah UT	24.4	31.0	+6.6
All States and DC (median) ** UW	27.8	34.2	+6.4
Montana MT	24.6	31.0	+6.4
Louisiana LA	33.4	39.2	+5.8
Oklahoma OK	31.1	36.8	+5.7
Rhode Island RI	25.4	31.1	+5.7
Idaho ID	27.1	32.7	+5.6
Pennsylvania PA	28.6	34.2	+5.6
Mississippi MS	34.9	40.4	+5.5
Maine ME	27.8	33.2	+5.4
North Carolina NC	29.1	34.5	+5.4
California CA	23.8	29.1	+5.3
Texas TX	30.4	35.6	+5.2
Hawaii HI	21.9	27.0	+5.1
New York NY	24.5	29.5	+5.0
Washington WA	26.5	31.5	+5.0
Michigan MI	31.3	36.1	+4.8
New Hampshire NH	26.5	31.1	+4.6
Maryland MD	28.3	32.7	+4.4
Colorado CO	20.7	25.0	+4.3
Massachusetts MA	22.7	27.0	+4.3
Missouri MO	30.3	34.6	+4.3
New Jersey NJ	23.7	27.6	+3.9
South Carolina SC	30.8	34.6	+3.8
Vermont VT	25.4	29.0	+3.6
Virginia VA	29.2	32.3	+3.1
Florida FL	26.6	29.6	+3.0
District of Columbia DC	23.8	25.5	+1.7
United States US	27.7	34.3	+6.6

The map freezes one year. These four lines run the whole span nationally. Smoking is in steep retreat; obesity and diagnosed diabetes climb without a pause; the cost barrier to care stepped down after 2014 and then held. Each panel is on its own scale - read the endpoint numbers, not the heights across panels.

Obesity and diabetes are not independent readings of a state - they are close to the same reading twice. Plot one against the other and the fifty-one places fall into a tight upward band (a correlation of r = 0.72): every added point of obesity comes with roughly 0.40 points more diagnosed diabetes. The lower-Mississippi and Appalachian states sit together in the upper right; the Mountain West clusters low on both.

Every state: obesity and diabetes

State	Obesity	Diabetes
West Virginia WV	41.4	18.4
Mississippi MS	40.4	15.2
Louisiana LA	39.2	15.4
Alabama AL	38.9	15.1
Arkansas AR	38.9	15.3
Indiana IN	38.4	14.3
Nebraska NE	37.6	10.5
Kansas KS	37.6	12.5
Wisconsin WI	37.4	11.9
Kentucky KY	37.2	16.2
South Dakota SD	37.0	11.8
Ohio OH	36.9	13.1
North Dakota ND	36.8	10.6
Oklahoma OK	36.8	13.2
Delaware DE	36.6	13.3
Iowa IA	36.6	11.4
Michigan MI	36.1	13.6
Texas TX	35.6	13.5
Georgia GA	35.4	12.8
Missouri MO	34.6	11.2
South Carolina SC	34.6	13.9
New Mexico NM	34.5	12.3
North Carolina NC	34.5	13.2
Nevada NV	34.3	13.6
All States and DC (median) ** UW	34.2	12.0
Pennsylvania PA	34.2	13.3
Illinois IL	34.2	12.8
Alaska AK	34.0	9.4
Oregon OR	33.5	12.0
Arizona AZ	33.3	11.5
Maine ME	33.2	11.5
Idaho ID	32.7	9.3
Maryland MD	32.7	12.4
Wyoming WY	32.5	10.1
Minnesota MN	32.3	10.1
Virginia VA	32.3	12.9
Connecticut CT	32.0	11.7
Washington WA	31.5	9.9
Rhode Island RI	31.1	11.6
New Hampshire NH	31.1	10.1
Utah UT	31.0	8.7
Montana MT	31.0	8.7
Florida FL	29.6	11.9
New York NY	29.5	12.3
California CA	29.1	12.6
Vermont VT	29.0	8.9
New Jersey NJ	27.6	10.8
Massachusetts MA	27.0	9.6
Hawaii HI	27.0	11.5
District of Columbia DC	25.5	8.4
Colorado CO	25.0	8.4
United States US	34.3	12.3

Fold the fifty-one places into the four Census regions and the map's gradient resolves into a plain hierarchy. The South carries the heaviest load on all four indicators at once; the Northeast and West sit lightest. Read each column on its own - the shading is scaled within a burden, so a dark cell means heavy for that indicator, not across them.

Within a column: lighter → heavier

The other three burdens are about bodies and habits. This one is about money: the share of adults who could not see a doctor in the past year because of the cost. Nationally it runs near 11.5%, but the spread is wide - from under eight percent in the Northeast and Upper Midwest to the mid-teens across the South. Each dot is a state; the axis is the only ranking that matters.