It’s a Good Thing Maine Didn’t Make It on This Nationally-Ranked List

It’s no real surprise that Americans are a wee bit… overweight. Relative to other countries, we pack on a few more pounds. We can throw the blame on a lot of different variables but a lot of it has to do with our processed foods.

That being said, the financial website WalletHub recently conducted a study on the country's most overweight states; fortunately, Maine did not hit the top of the list.

The Most Overweight States in the U.S.

The financial website compared the 50 states across 31 key metrics with data set ranges from the share of overweight populations, sugary-beverage consumption, and obesity-related healthcare costs.

As with all the studies they conduct, they released the top 20 states and Maine did not make the cut, which is a good thing.

The No. 1 overweight state in the country is West Virginia and Maine made the list at No. 21. So, we were actually close to hitting that top 20.

I would probably attribute this to us being a healthy state that makes a lot of food using locally-sourced ingredients and being the main hub of the L.L. Bean HQ. We are an extremely active state with a lot of outdoorsmen year round, from hikers in the warmer months and skiiers and ice climbers in the winter.

New Hampshire came up close at No. 29 and our other neighbor may surprise you.

Massachusetts was nearly last on the list at No. 48 for one of the least overweight states in the country. This is surprising to me because when I think about people in Massachusetts, I picture them eating hot dogs at hockey games and pounding beers on the golf course.

The least obese states below Massachusetts are Utah and Colorado, which aren’t surprising at all. You can watch a video on the study here.