Obesity Demographics Statistics

Fast take

Obesity demographics statistics show a wide spread across race, ethnicity, and state context, with the supplied CDC BRFSS 2021-2023 race/ethnicity obesity map data ranging from the low teens to the 50% range.

The most useful way to read this dataset is not as a single national average, but as a set of demographic and geographic comparisons that highlight where prevalence is relatively lower, where it is much higher, and how those differences show up across states and territories.

What this dataset covers
At-a-glance patterns
Race and ethnicity comparison
State-by-state examples
What stands out across groups
How to use these statistics

What this dataset covers

The source statistics focus on obesity prevalence by race and ethnicity across selected states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Guam. Each value is tied to the CDC BRFSS 2021-2023 race/ethnicity obesity map, so the comparison set is best treated as a structured snapshot rather than a complete census of every group in every state.

A few things matter when you read the numbers:

The same racial or ethnic category can vary sharply by location.
Some groups appear in many states, while others appear in only a few of the supplied rows.
The most informative comparisons come from looking at the range within each group and then comparing those ranges across groups.
Because the source is a map-based set of state and territory values, the geography is part of the story, not just the demographic label.

At-a-glance patterns

Here is a compact view of a few of the strongest reference points from the supplied statistics.

Group	Location	Obesity prevalence	Source label
Non-Hispanic White adults	District of Columbia	13.5%	CDC BRFSS 2021-2023 race/ethnicity obesity map
Non-Hispanic Asian adults	District of Columbia	11.5%	CDC BRFSS 2021-2023 race/ethnicity obesity map
Non-Hispanic Black adults	Montana	50.7%	CDC BRFSS 2021-2023 race/ethnicity obesity map
Non-Hispanic Black adults	Alabama	49.6%	CDC BRFSS 2021-2023 race/ethnicity obesity map
Non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native adults	Arizona	48.1%	CDC BRFSS 2021-2023 race/ethnicity obesity map
Hispanic adults	Illinois	41.3%	CDC BRFSS 2021-2023 race/ethnicity obesity map

Those examples show the basic pattern in the dataset: some demographic and geographic combinations are clustered in the low teens or low 20s, while others are above 40% and even near 50%.

Race and ethnicity comparison

The source statistics make it possible to compare how obesity prevalence differs by race and ethnicity in the selected locations.

Non-Hispanic White adults

For Non-Hispanic White adults, the dataset shows a broad spread across states:

Alabama: 36.0%
Alaska: 32.4%
Arizona: 28.8%
Arkansas: 37.4%
California: 25.7%
Colorado: 23.7%
District of Columbia: 13.5%
Georgia: 32.6%
Hawaii: 20.1%
Idaho: 31.3%
Illinois: 33.3%
Indiana: 37.0%

The lowest value in this set is the District of Columbia at 13.5% (CDC BRFSS 2021-2023 race/ethnicity obesity map), while the highest is Arkansas at 37.4% (CDC BRFSS 2021-2023 race/ethnicity obesity map). That means the visible span inside this one group is more than 20 percentage points, which is large enough to show that state context matters a great deal.

Non-Hispanic Black adults

The Non-Hispanic Black adult values are consistently elevated in the supplied rows:

Alabama: 49.6%
California: 37.5%
Colorado: 29.5%
Connecticut: 41.9%
Delaware: 44.9%
District of Columbia: 37.0%
Georgia: 43.8%
Hawaii: 28.1%
Illinois: 42.5%
Louisiana: 47.1%
Montana: 50.7%
North Carolina: 48.1%

The range here is wide, but the upper end is especially notable. Montana at 50.7% and Alabama at 49.6% are both at or above the 50% line once rounding and measurement context are kept in mind. Even the lower values in this set, such as Colorado at 29.5% and Hawaii at 28.1%, remain far from the low-teens values seen for some other groups in the dataset.

Hispanic adults

Hispanic adults in the source statistics also show variation by state and territory:

Alabama: 36.1%
Arizona: 38.1%
California: 35.9%
Colorado: 30.9%
District of Columbia: 28.3%
Illinois: 41.3%
Indiana: 40.5%
Kansas: 39.0%
New York: 33.0%
Puerto Rico: 35.4%
Texas: 39.2%
Wyoming: 40.7%

The lowest value here is the District of Columbia at 28.3% (CDC BRFSS 2021-2023 race/ethnicity obesity map), while the highest is Illinois at 41.3% (CDC BRFSS 2021-2023 race/ethnicity obesity map). That is a meaningful spread, but it sits in a different band from the Non-Hispanic Asian values and from the highest Non-Hispanic Black values.

Non-Hispanic Asian adults

The Non-Hispanic Asian adult values are lower than the other groups in the supplied set:

Alaska: 23.9%
Arizona: 13.1%
California: 11.6%
District of Columbia: 11.5%
Guam: 17.5%
Hawaii: 17.8%
Maryland: 14.3%
Minnesota: 19.7%
Nevada: 20.8%

The District of Columbia at 11.5% and California at 11.6% are the two lowest values in the full set of supplied statistics, and Arizona at 13.1% is close behind. Even the higher figures for this group, such as Nevada at 20.8% and Alaska at 23.9%, remain well below the top-end values seen for Non-Hispanic Black adults and American Indian or Alaska Native adults in the dataset.

Non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native adults

This group shows some of the highest values in the dataset:

Arizona: 48.1%
Idaho: 44.5%
Iowa: 48.1%
Kansas: 45.6%
North Dakota: 47.1%

The values cluster in the mid-40s to upper-40s, which makes this one of the clearest high-prevalence patterns in the supplied rows. Arizona and Iowa both sit at 48.1% (CDC BRFSS 2021-2023 race/ethnicity obesity map), and North Dakota is close behind at 47.1%.

State-by-state examples

Looking at the data by location helps show how prevalence changes when the demographic group stays the same.

Alabama

Alabama appears in multiple groups:

Non-Hispanic White adults: 36.0%
Non-Hispanic Black adults: 49.6%
Hispanic adults: 36.1%

The contrast between the Non-Hispanic Black adult figure and the other two is important. It shows that a single state can contain a substantial within-state disparity across demographic categories.

California

California also appears across several groups:

Non-Hispanic White adults: 25.7%
Non-Hispanic Black adults: 37.5%
Hispanic adults: 35.9%
Non-Hispanic Asian adults: 11.6%

California gives one of the sharpest side-by-side comparisons in the dataset because the Non-Hispanic Asian adult value is far below the others. That makes California a useful example of how one location can contain multiple obesity prevalence bands at once.

Colorado

Colorado shows another useful internal comparison:

Non-Hispanic White adults: 23.7%
Non-Hispanic Black adults: 29.5%
Hispanic adults: 30.9%

These three values are closer together than in Alabama or California, but they still show a consistent ordering across the supplied rows.

District of Columbia

The District of Columbia is notable because it contains some of the lowest values in the dataset:

Non-Hispanic White adults: 13.5%
Non-Hispanic Black adults: 37.0%
Hispanic adults: 28.3%
Non-Hispanic Asian adults: 11.5%

That combination makes the District of Columbia especially useful for understanding how a low value for one group can coexist with a much higher value for another group in the same geographic area.

Hawaii

Hawaii also shows a wide range across groups:

Non-Hispanic White adults: 20.1%
Non-Hispanic Black adults: 28.1%
Hispanic adults: not listed in the supplied rows
Non-Hispanic Asian adults: 17.8%

Because the available rows are not complete for every group, Hawaii is also a reminder that the dataset is selective. You can still use it for comparisons, but you should not treat it as a full profile of every demographic category.

What stands out across groups

A few patterns recur throughout the supplied statistics.

1. The low end is very low for some Asian and White adult values

The lowest values in the dataset come from Non-Hispanic Asian adults in the District of Columbia at 11.5% and in California at 11.6%, plus Non-Hispanic White adults in the District of Columbia at 13.5% (CDC BRFSS 2021-2023 race/ethnicity obesity map). These values sit far below the highest values in the dataset and establish the bottom of the range.

2. The high end is concentrated in Black and American Indian or Alaska Native adult values

The highest values in the set are mostly found among Non-Hispanic Black adults and Non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native adults. Examples include Montana at 50.7% for Non-Hispanic Black adults, Alabama at 49.6% for Non-Hispanic Black adults, and Arizona and Iowa at 48.1% for Non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native adults.

3. Geography changes the story inside each group

The same racial or ethnic label does not land at the same percentage everywhere. For example, Non-Hispanic White adults range from 13.5% in the District of Columbia to 37.4% in Arkansas. Non-Hispanic Asian adults range from 11.5% in the District of Columbia to 23.9% in Alaska. That is why a single national-style headline would hide too much of the real variation.

4. Some states repeatedly appear at the higher end

Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Montana, North Carolina, and several other states appear in the more elevated values for at least one group. That does not imply a single cause from these statistics alone. It does show that the geography in the source data is not random background noise.

How to use these statistics

If you are using obesity demographics statistics for writing, research, or reporting, the safest approach is to keep the comparisons precise.

Compare like with like: same demographic group, different locations, or same location, different groups.
Keep the source label visible when you mention a value: CDC BRFSS 2021-2023 race/ethnicity obesity map.
Use the numbers to describe variation, not to explain causation.
Avoid flattening the dataset into one average when the real value of the data is the spread.
When citing a state or territory, give the demographic category and the percentage together so the reader can see the context immediately.

A clean reporting pattern looks like this:

Non-Hispanic White adults in Colorado: 23.7% (CDC BRFSS 2021-2023 race/ethnicity obesity map)
Non-Hispanic Black adults in Montana: 50.7% (CDC BRFSS 2021-2023 race/ethnicity obesity map)
Non-Hispanic Asian adults in California: 11.6% (CDC BRFSS 2021-2023 race/ethnicity obesity map)
Hispanic adults in Illinois: 41.3% (CDC BRFSS 2021-2023 race/ethnicity obesity map)

That format preserves the source, the demographic group, and the geography in a single line, which is the easiest way to keep this kind of statistics content accurate and readable.