According to CDC statistics, over 40 percent of adults in the United States are obese. Not only does obesity negatively affect a person's general health, but during the COVID-19 pandemic it increased the risk of developing serious symptoms, tripling the likelihood of hospitalization in some cases, said the CDC. A 2012 study put the costs of obesity-related medical treatment in the U.S. at $190.2 billion a year, amounting to nearly 21% of annual medical spending. In 2014, the American Journal of Health Promotion found that employees at a normal weight cost employers an average of $3,830 a year in health care and related costs, while morbidly obese employees cost employers more than twice as much, at $8,067. Obesity is more prevalent in some cities in the U.S. than others. To determine those cities, WalletHub compared 100 of the country's most populous metropolitan areas across three dimensions: Obesity and Overweight, Health Consequences, and Food & Fitness. It used 19 different metrics to evaluate those dimensions, including share of overweight and obese adults, shares of adults with high blood pressure or diabetes, and low fruit/vegetable consumption and limited access to healthy food. Related: Obese employees cost their companies more than twice as much as healthy-weight employees Experts say employers can play an active role in helping their employees maintain a healthy lifestyle. "Small changes can have big gains in the workplace," says Casey Colin, an assistant professor at the Department of Nutrition & Dietetics at the University of North Florida. "Employers should consider enhancing the safety and aesthetic of stairwells so workers are more enticed to take the stairs instead of the elevator. Having easy access to clean water through water coolers and/or water-bottle filling stations rather than soda machines can be a great improvement." Colin also suggests providing adequate breakroom space for employees to eat lunches away from their desks, as encouraging break time away from tasks can improve the mental health of workers as well as their physical health. "When the workplace fosters good physical and mental health practices, productivity and less sick days often result," she says. Sherry Pagoto, director of the UConn Center for mHealth & Social Media at the University of Connecticut, goes one step further: "Invest in prevention! Preventive services like lifestyle interventions should be accessible and free to all. Public schools should provide healthy lunches and many opportunities for physical activity throughout the day. The policy of pushing back the start time for high schools could also have an impact on obesity now that we know how much adequate sleep affects body weight." See our slideshow above for the top 5 most and least overweight cities in the U.S., and click here for the full study. Read more: |

• 16 states now have obesity rates above 35%
• By 2030, half of U.S. will be obese
• Legal discrimination against the obese affects women, their finances, their retirement