--- title: The Fattest and Thinnest Cities in the U.S. description: According to Gallup, the Huntington-Ashland-Ironton metropolitan area is the most obese community in the U.S. and Boulder the slimmest canonical: https://time.com/51431/gallup-healthways-well-being-index-boulder-obesity/ author: David Stout article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-04-07T09:44:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T07:09:51.257Z article:section: Health og:title: The Fattest and Thinnest Cities in the U.S. og:description: According to Gallup, the Huntington-Ashland-Ironton metropolitan area is the most obese community in the U.S. and Boulder the slimmest og:url: https://time.com/51431/gallup-healthways-well-being-index-boulder-obesity/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Fattest and Thinnest Cities in the U.S. twitter:description: According to Gallup, the Huntington-Ashland-Ironton metropolitan area is the most obese community in the U.S. and Boulder the slimmest twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Here are the Fattest (and Fittest) Cities In the U.S. > Sponsored content. 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Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. by [David Stout](https://time.com/author/david-stout/) ## David Stout Apr 7, 2014 9:44 AM UTC by [David Stout](https://time.com/author/david-stout/) ## David Stout Apr 7, 2014 9:44 AM UTC A Gallup study has found that the Huntington-Ashland-Ironton metropolitan area is the most obese community in the U.S. The Gallp-Healthways Well-Being Index found that 39.5% of the adult population of the area, which straddles West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio, are overweight. Other problem communities are McAllen-Edinburg-Mission (38.3%), Tx., and the Hagerstown-Martinsburg metropolitan area (36.7%) in Maryland and West Virginia. Boulder, Colo. remains the city with the [lowest obesity rates](http://www.gallup.com/poll/168230/boulder-colo-residents-least-likely-obese.aspx) in the US. Just 12.4% of Boulder’s residents are deemed overweight — the lowest of any community surveyed in the U.S. Also in the top three were Naples-Marco Island (16.5%), Fl., and Fort Collins-Loveland (18.2%), Colo. Boulder has had the lowest obesity rate in five of the last six surveys conducted since Gallup and Healthways began conducting the study in 2008. Nationally, the U.S.’s obesity rate jumped to 27.1% last year, the highest Gallup has recorded since tracking began six years ago. \[[Gallup](http://www.gallup.com/poll/168230/boulder-colo-residents-least-likely-obese.aspx)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/51431/gallup-healthways-well-being-index-boulder-obesity/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/51431/gallup-healthways-well-being-index-boulder-obesity/"},"headline":"Here are the Fattest (and Fittest) Cities In the U.S.","datePublished":"2014-04-07T09:44:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:09:51.257Z","description":"A new study by Gallup finds the Huntington-Ashland-Ironton metropolitan area that straddles West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio is the most obese community in the U.S.; Boulder is named the slimmest for the fifth time in six years","url":"https://time.com/51431/gallup-healthways-well-being-index-boulder-obesity/","keywords":["Obesity","Colorado","fitness","Gallup","health"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"David Stout","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/david-stout/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"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/obesity/","name":"Obesity"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/51431/gallup-healthways-well-being-index-boulder-obesity/","name":"Here are the Fattest (and Fittest) Cities In the U.S."}}]}] ```