--- title: 10 Most Sedentary States in America description: The CDC tracked the percentage of adults who participate in no physical activity in their leisure time. canonical: https://time.com/2987896/america-sedentary-states-exercise/ author: Laura Stampler article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-15T18:55:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T09:09:33.763Z article:section: Health og:title: 10 Most Sedentary States in America og:description: Pulled from the CDC's 2014 State Indicator Report on Physical Activity og:url: https://time.com/2987896/america-sedentary-states-exercise/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt13d3c0889fa7abc2/69869bd3f983e720f904ed41/lazy-americans.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5120 og:image:height: 2880 og:image:alt: Overweight man using remote controls og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 10 Most Sedentary States in America twitter:description: Pulled from the CDC's 2014 State Indicator Report on Physical Activity twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt13d3c0889fa7abc2/69869bd3f983e720f904ed41/lazy-americans.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 1 in 4 Americans Admit Doing No Exercise At All > Sponsored content. 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There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=f7efe95a-ee9a-4c6f-bcdf-c855b083157c&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Jul 15, 2014 6:55 PM UTC  Overweight man using remote controls Overweight man using remote controls Geri Lavrov—Getty Images by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Jul 15, 2014 6:55 PM UTC The CDC released a[ new report](http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/downloads/pa%5Fstate%5Findicator%5Freport%5F2014.pdf) Tuesday that looks at how states across the country support physical activity, revealing one in four people across the U.S. admit doing no voluntary exercise at all. The research is intended to show how some states are much more active than others. But to really drill in the point, the CDC included a table that tracks the percentage of adults by state who participate in zero physical activity in their free time. A total of 25.4 percent across the U.S. admitted making no time at all for leisure-time physical activity, according to the report. Just over half of those surveyed said they met the CDC’s 150-minute weekly guideline for aerobic activity. The 10 states with the highest percentage of inactivity were as follows: Mississippi: 36% Tennessee: 35.1% West Virginia: 35.1% Louisiana: 33.8% Alabama: 32.6% Oklahoma: 31.2% Arkansas: 30.9% Kentucky: 29.3% Indiana: 29.2% Missouri: 28.4% The report states that data on physical activity behavior was gathered using data from the CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, and the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (which was used to track youth physical activity.) While some of the above numbers might look bad, all hope isn’t lost. The CDC’s report suggests strategies states can employ to encourage physical activity. [Those include](http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/downloads/pa%5Fstate%5Findicator%5Freport%5F2014.pdf): --- > “” --- The CDC found that 27 states are tying to make the streets safer for pedestrians and cyclists with Complete Street policies to get people up and moving. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2987896/america-sedentary-states-exercise/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2987896/america-sedentary-states-exercise/"},"headline":"1 in 4 Americans Admit Doing No Exercise At All","datePublished":"2014-07-15T18:55:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:09:33.763Z","description":"The 10 most sedentary states in America are as follows","url":"https://time.com/2987896/america-sedentary-states-exercise/","keywords":["Exercise & Fitness","fitness","CDC","health","physical activity"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt13d3c0889fa7abc2/69869bd3f983e720f904ed41/lazy-americans.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Laura Stampler","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt13d3c0889fa7abc2/69869bd3f983e720f904ed41/lazy-americans.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Overweight man using remote controls","caption":"Overweight man using remote controls","creditText":"Geri Lavrov—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/exercisefitness/","name":"Exercise & Fitness"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2987896/america-sedentary-states-exercise/","name":"1 in 4 Americans Admit Doing No Exercise At All"}}]}] ```