Gallup's Justin McCarthy and Diana Liu look at the most recent Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index to rank the fattest and fittest states in the nation.
The survey found that Mississippi once again clocked in with the highest obesity rate in the nation at 35.2%, and many of the highest states were found in the South and Midwest, such as West Virginia, Louisiana and Arkansas.
The lowest? Hawaii, with 19.0%, quite a bit below the nationwide average of 27.7%, followed by Colorado, Montana, and California. The survey finds a consistently strong link between health and happiness, claiming that many of the states with the lowest obesity rates are also those with the highest overall Well-Being Index scores.
The national obesity rate in 2014 was the highest that Gallup and Healthways have measured since starting to track this measure in 2008. In a handful of states, more than a third of the population is obese.