The United States has an obesity problem, and it’s getting worse. The obesity rate has climbed in every single state and the District of Columbia over the past decade.

But even as the nation’s obesity problem grows, Alabama is getting heavier faster.

With just under 40% of citizens qualifying as obese according to metrics from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention from 2021, Alabama has the third highest obesity rate in the United States, behind only West Virginia and Kentucky.

Since 2011, Alabama’s obesity rate has climbed more than the nation as a whole. Alabama went from 32% of residents qualifying as obese in 2011 to 39.9% in 2021, an increase of 7.9 percentage points. Over that same time, the obesity rate for the U.S. as a whole went from 27.7% to 33.9%, an increase of 6.2 percentage points.

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Back in 2011, Alabama was fourth in the nation for obesity rate, but the order of the top 5 has changed a lot since then. Mississippi was No. 1 in the nation for obesity in 2011, but fell to No. 5 as of 2021. Alabama passed Mississippi last year for the first time since 2015, when the two were essentially tied. Alabama also passed Louisiana, which in 2011 was No. 2 in the nation.

A person is considered obese if they have a body mass index between 30 and 99.8, according to the CDC. Obesity is linked with many health issues, including heart disease and stroke – both among the leading causes of death for Alabamians.

Alabama isn’t the only southern state with an obesity problem.

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Based on the U.S. Census Bureau’s definition of the South, which includes border states like West Virginia, Kentucky and Oklahoma, each of the seven states with the highest obesity rates are in the south.

The states with the lowest obesity rates are Hawaii, Colorado, Massachusetts, California and New Jersey. Washington, D.C., has the lowest rate in the nation.

Do you have an idea for a data story about Alabama? Email Ramsey Archibald at [email protected], and follow him on Twitter @RamseyArchibald. Read more Alabama data stories here.