Poll: Cities most, least likely to be obese; the results may surprise you
OKLAHOMA CITY – A recent Gallup poll surprised many people with its findings about weight in this country.
It created two lists; one of the cities that were most likely to be obese and another with cities that were least likely to be obese.
Among the 189 U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas surveyed, Boulder, Colorado came out as the city that was least likely to have obese residents.
Researchers found 12 percent of Boulder’s population is obese and has had the lowest obesity rate nearly every year since the poll began.
Boulder is followed by Naples, Florida; Ft. Collins, Colorado and Charlottesville, Virginia.
On the other side of the coin, Huntington, West Virginia and Ashland, Kentucky tied for having the most obese residents.
The towns tied with 39.5 percent of the population being overweight.
They were followed by McAllen, Texas; Hagerstown, Maryland and Yakima, Washington.
Gallup did a second poll of major U.S. cities and Oklahoma City made the list.
For the least likely to be obese, Denver, Colorado topped the list, followed by San Diego, California and San Jose, California.
The major city that was most likely to be obese is Memphis, Tennessee with almost 32 percent of the population falling into the obese category.
It was followed by San Antonio, Texas; Richmond, Virginia and New Orleans, Louisiana.
Oklahoma City came in eighth on the list with 28.4 percent of the population being obese.
Organizers say none of the large communities designed as having the highest obesity rates ranked among the communities of all sizes with the 10 highest obesity rates.
Therefore, they say residents in smaller communities are more likely to be overweight than those living in larger areas.