Roughly 70% of American adults are either overweight or obese. That number combines about 30% who are overweight with the 40.3% who are obese, based on the most recent national survey data collected between August 2021 and August 2023 by the National Center for Health Statistics.
What the Latest Numbers Show
The adult obesity rate in the United States stands at 40.3%, with no significant difference between men and women. Within that group, 9.4% of adults have severe obesity (a BMI of 40 or higher), and women are more likely than men to fall into this category across every age group. These figures come from the CDC’s ongoing national health surveys, which measure people’s height and weight directly rather than relying on self-reported data.
An additional roughly 30% of adults fall into the overweight category, meaning their BMI lands between 25 and 29.9. When you combine overweight and obese adults, approximately 7 in 10 American adults exceed what’s considered a healthy weight range.
How BMI Categories Are Defined
BMI, or body mass index, is calculated from your height and weight. For adults 20 and older, the CDC defines the categories this way:
- Overweight: BMI of 25 to less than 30
- Class 1 Obesity: BMI of 30 to less than 35
- Class 2 Obesity: BMI of 35 to less than 40
- Class 3 (Severe) Obesity: BMI of 40 or greater
BMI is a screening tool, not a perfect measure of health. It doesn’t distinguish between muscle and fat, and it can miscategorize very muscular or very short individuals. But at a population level, it remains the standard metric for tracking weight trends over time.
How the Rate Has Changed Over Decades
The current numbers represent a dramatic shift from mid-20th century America. In 1960 to 1962, the age-adjusted obesity rate among adults was just 13.4%. By the most recent survey period of 2021 to 2023, that figure had tripled to 40.8% (age-adjusted for adults 20 to 74). The steepest increases occurred between the 1980s and early 2000s, and the rate has continued climbing since, though more gradually.
Projections from researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health suggest the trajectory isn’t leveling off. Their modeling estimates that about half of U.S. adults will have obesity by 2030, with roughly a quarter reaching severe obesity. If those projections hold, severe obesity will become the most common BMI category above normal weight.
Children and Adolescents
The pattern starts early. Among U.S. children and adolescents, obesity rates climb with age. From 2017 to early 2020, 12.7% of children ages 2 to 5 had obesity, 20.7% of children ages 6 to 11, and 22.2% of adolescents ages 12 to 19. That means more than one in five American teenagers is obese, not just overweight.
Where Rates Are Highest
Obesity prevalence varies significantly by geography. As of 2023, 23 states have adult obesity rates at or above 35%, meaning more than one in three adults in those states is obese. The list skews heavily toward the South and Midwest: Mississippi, West Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and South Carolina are all on it, along with Midwestern states like Indiana, Iowa, Ohio, Kansas, and Wisconsin.
No state has an adult obesity rate below 20%. Even the leanest states, which tend to be in the West and Northeast, still see at least one in five adults living with obesity.
The Financial Weight
Obesity costs the U.S. healthcare system nearly $173 billion per year. That figure captures the increased spending on conditions closely linked to excess weight: type 2 diabetes, heart disease, certain cancers, joint problems, and sleep apnea, among others. People with obesity generally face higher medical bills than those at a healthy weight, driven largely by medication costs and more frequent healthcare visits for chronic conditions.