Many Americans weigh too much, some weigh too little and, from the perspective of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, some are just right.
About 30.5% of working-age Americans in a typical state were at about the right weight in 2023.
The median was down from 33% in 2018, before the COVID-19 pandemic appeared, according to new data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey program.
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The normal-weight rate ranged from under 25%, in West Virginia, up to 35% or more, in five states.
For a look at the five states with the highest rates of working-age adults being what the CDC classifies as a normal weight, see the gallery above.
For data for all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, see the table below. (If we had included the District of Columbia in the gallery, it would have ranked first.)
Methods: The CDC breaks weight rate data down for people under 18, people ages 65 and older, and four age groups from 18 through 64. We came up with a normal-weight prevalence rate for the working-age population by averaging the data for the age groups in that age range. One benefit of using that approach is that it filters out the effects of the aging of the population, or other population trends, in a given state.
At press time, the CDC had not included data from Kentucky and Pennsylvania in the 2023 BRFSS results.
The impact: When employees are of normal weight, rather than obese, that can help an employer save $31.55 per member per month on care for type 2 diabetes, $22.60 per member per month on care for osteoarthritis, and $5.93 per member per month on care for coronary artery disease, according to an analysis by Novo Nordisk, the maker of Wegovy, Ozempic and other drugs used to treat diabetes and obesity.
| Adults Ages 18-64 Who Are Normal Weight | |||
| 2018 | 2023 | Change, in percentage points | |
| Alabama | 29.70% | 25.90% | -3.80 |
| Alaska | 34.76% | 30.90% | -3.86 |
| Arizona | 33.44% | 31.38% | -2.06 |
| Arkansas | 27.34% | 25.88% | -1.46 |
| California | 36.94% | 33.46% | -3.48 |
| Colorado | 40.44% | 38.58% | -1.86 |
| Connecticut | 35.26% | 34.36% | -0.90 |
| Delaware | 32.88% | 27.54% | -5.34 |
| District of Columbia | 41.22% | 39.94% | -1.28 |
| Florida | 33.84% | 35.00% | +1.16 |
| Georgia | 32.58% | 30.62% | -1.96 |
| Hawaii | 37.12% | 35.32% | -1.80 |
| Idaho | 36.52% | 31.70% | -4.82 |
| Illinois | 33.60% | 29.46% | -4.14 |
| Indiana | 32.66% | 27.98% | -4.68 |
| Iowa | 30.52% | 26.80% | -3.72 |
| Kansas | 31.16% | 28.88% | -2.28 |
| Kentucky | 31.46% | NA | - |
| Louisiana | 29.72% | 27.38% | -2.34 |
| Maine | 34.70% | 30.96% | -3.74 |
| Maryland | 33.10% | 30.58% | -2.52 |
| Massachusetts | 38.84% | 36.34% | -2.50 |
| Michigan | 32.50% | 30.32% | -2.18 |
| Minnesota | 34.28% | 32.10% | -2.18 |
| Mississippi | 25.20% | 26.46% | +1.26 |
| Missouri | 32.70% | 28.92% | -3.78 |
| Montana | 36.30% | 33.74% | -2.56 |
| Nebraska | 31.30% | 27.92% | -3.38 |
| Nevada | 32.06% | 32.24% | +0.18 |
| New Hampshire | 35.50% | 30.88% | -4.62 |
| New Jersey | 37.82% | 34.34% | -3.48 |
| New Mexico | 29.94% | 28.02% | -1.92 |
| New York | 36.54% | 34.34% | -2.20 |
| North Carolina | 31.12% | 30.46% | -0.66 |
| North Dakota | 28.66% | 27.80% | -0.86 |
| Ohio | 32.22% | 29.44% | -2.78 |
| Oklahoma | 28.58% | 27.30% | -1.28 |
| Oregon | 35.42% | 32.34% | -3.08 |
| Pennsylvania | 33.82% | NA | - |
| Puerto Rico | 29.26% | 26.46% | -2.80 |
| Rhode Island | 35.58% | 31.64% | -3.94 |
| South Carolina | 29.68% | 28.38% | -1.30 |
| South Dakota | 32.56% | 28.64% | -3.92 |
| Tennessee | 31.84% | 28.16% | -3.68 |
| Texas | 29.94% | 29.36% | -0.58 |
| Utah | 35.98% | 32.68% | -3.30 |
| Vermont | 38.32% | 35.28% | -3.04 |
| Virginia | 33.12% | 30.44% | -2.68 |
| Washington | 36.22% | 33.14% | -3.08 |
| West Virginia | 27.28% | 24.74% | -2.54 |
| Wisconsin | 31.42% | 30.40% | -1.02 |
| Wyoming | 35.68% | 28.08% | -7.60 |
| MEDIAN | 32.99% | 30.45% | -2.54 |
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Allison Bell
Allison Bell, a senior reporter at ThinkAdvisor and BenefitsPRO, previously was an associate editor at National Underwriter Life & Health. She has a bachelor's degree in economics from Washington University in St. Louis and a master's degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She can be reached through X at @Think_Allison.
