America's Fattest Cities

How overweight is your city?
Research By Jaclyn Colletti and Maria Masters

Go to Google Maps, type in "United States," and you'll be reminded of just how big Texas is. But what you can't see is the size of the state's citizenry: Five Lone Star cities are among the nation's fattest, with Corpulent Christi at the top.

To arrive at our rankings, we calculated the percentage of people who are overweight, the percentage with type 2 diabetes, the percentage who haven't left the couch in a month (CDC Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System); the money spent on junk food (Bureau of Labor Statistics); and finally, the number of people who ate fast food nine or more times in a month (Mediamark Research).

Now for the good news: The folks at The Biggest Loser have decided to help Texas lose its tonnage. Tune in and watch America's second-largest state shrink before your eyes.

RANK

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33

CITY

Corpus Christi, TX
Charleston, WV
El Paso, TX
Dallas, TX
Memphis, TN
Kansas City, MO
San Antonio, TX
Baltimore, MD
Houston, TX
Birmingham, AL
Durham, NC
Jacksonville, FL
Lubbock, TX
Buffalo, NY
Philadelphia, PA
Riverside, CA
Oklahoma City, OK
New Orleans, LA
Jersey City, NJ
Las Vegas, NV
Wichita, KS
Chicago, IL
Fort Wayne, IN
Indianapolis, IN
Lexington, KY
Billings, MT
Detroit, MI
Montgomery, AL
Toledo, OH
Fresno, CA
Tulsa, OK
Orlando, FL
Fargo, ND

GRADE

F
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
D-
D-
D-
D-
D-
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D+
D+
D+
D+
D+
D+
D+
D+
D+
D+
D+
C-

RANK

34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66

CITY

Milwaukee, WI
Anchorage, AK
Tampa, FL
Jackson, MS
Columbia, SC
Des Moines, IA
Cheyenne, WY
Madison, WI
Newark, NJ
Bakersfield, CA
Pittsburgh, PA
Richmond, VA
Los Angeles, CA
Raleigh, NC
Modesto, CA
St. Louis, MO
Sacramento, CA
Louisville, KY
Boston, MA
Virginia Beach, VA
Arlington, TX
Grand Rapids, MI
Providence, RI
Nashville, TN
Spokane, WA
Sioux Falls, SD
Omaha, NE
St. Petersburg, FL
San Diego, CA
Columbus, OH
Tucson, AZ
Little Rock, AR
Fort Worth, TX

GRADE

C-
C-
C-
C-
C-
C-
C-
C-
C-
C
C
C
C
C
C
C
C
C
C
C+
C+
C+
C+
C+
C+
C+
C+
C+
C+
C+
C+
B-
B-

RANK

67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100

CITY

Lincoln, NE
Phoenix, AZ
Miami, FL
Greensboro, NC
Manchester, NH
Portland, ME
Rochester, NY
Charlotte, NC
New York, NY
Boise, ID
Cleveland, OH
Anaheim, CA
Yonkers, NY
San Jose, CA
Reno, NV
Atlanta, GA
Wilmington, DE
Hartford, CT
Salt Lake City, UT
Colorado Springs, CO
St. Paul, MN
Minneapolis, MN
Oakland, CA
Honolulu, HI
Aurora, CO
Denver, CO
Cincinnati, OH
Portland, OR
Albuquerque, NM
Austin, TX
Seattle, WA
Washington, DC
Burlington, VT
San Francisco, CA

GRADE

B-
B-
B-
B-
B-
B-
B-
B-
B-
B
B
B
B
B
B
B
B
B+
B+
B+
B+
B+
B+
B+
B+
A-
A_
A_
A-
A
A
A
A+
A+

 








































































Put the Brakes on Inflation
You have to give Texas legislators credit: They're trying to fight the state's weight problem with a bill requiring chain restaurants to list nutrition information, including calorie counts, on their menus. Yale University researchers recently found that this dietary disclosure prompted people to order meals with nearly 15 percent fewer calories. "People may have ordered less because many of the numbers are shocking, with most appetizers containing half a day's worth of calories," says study author Christina Roberto, M.S. Go to menulabeling.org to see if your politicians are pushing for greater nutritional transparency.

Take Steps
It may not feel like "exercise," but walking does burn calories; plus, the only gear you need is a pedometer, a notepad, and a pen. In a recent British study, men who wore pedometers and then wrote down their total steps at the end of each day walked 11 percent more than those who didn't put pen to paper. "Recording your steps motivates you to beat your level of activity from the previous day," says study coauthor Stacy Clemes, Ph.D.