At least 1 in 5 people is obese in every U.S. state, the CDC reported today.

In the most obese states -- Mississippi and Louisiana -- more than 1 in 3 people is obese. But 10 other states are close behind, with more than 30% obesity among adults.

The findings come from the CDC's annual self-report health survey, the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System or BRFSS.

Are Americans more obese than last year? Maybe, maybe not: The numbers can't be compared, because the BRFSS changed since last year, reaching out to people who only have cell phones and using a better system to analyze the data.

Both those things mean the statistics should be more accurate -- but also make comparisons to earlier years meaningless. The new 2011 data will be the baseline to which future BRFSS reports will be compared.

The CDC doesn't actually ask anyone whether they're obese. They ask their height and weight instead. This lets researchers calculate their body mass index or BMI. Obesity starts with a BMI of 30.
Obesity State-by-State

Here are the CDC's state-by-state obesity levels, listed in order of obesity:

RANK
   

STATE
   

% OBESE

1
   

Mississippi
   

34.9

2
   

Louisiana
   

33.4

3
   

West Virginia
   

32.4

4
   

Alabama
   

32.0

5
   

Michigan
   

31.3

6
   

Oklahoma
   

31.1

7
   

Arkansas
   

30.9

8
   

Indiana
   

30.8

8
   

South Carolina
   

30.8

9
   

Kentucky
   

30.4

9
   

Texas
   

30.4

10
   

Missouri
   

30.3

11
   

Kansas
   

29.6

11
   

Ohio
   

29.6

12
   

Tennessee
   

29.2

12
   

Virginia
   

29.2

13
   

North Carolina
   

29.1

14
   

Iowa
   

29.0

15
   

Delaware
   

28.8

16
   

Pennsylvania
   

28.6

17
   

Nebraska
   

28.4

18
   

Maryland
   

28.3

19
   

South Dakota
   

28.1

20
   

Georgia
   

28.0

21
   

Maine
   

27.8

21
   

North Dakota
   

27.8

22
   

Wisconsin
   

27.7

23
   

Alaska
   

27.4

24
   

Illinois
   

27.1

25
   

Idaho
   

27.0

26
   

Oregon
   

26.7

27
   

Florida
   

26.6

28
   

Washington
   

26.5

29
   

New Mexico
   

26.3

30
   

New Hampshire
   

26.2

31
   

Minnesota
   

25.7

32
   

Rhode Island
   

25.4

32
   

Vermont
   

25.4

33
   

Wyoming
   

25.0

34
   

Arizona
   

24.7

35
   

Montana
   

24.6

36
   

Connecticut
   

24.5

36
   

Nevada
   

24.5

36
   

New York
   

24.5

37
   

Utah
   

24.4

38
   

California
   

23.8

39
   

District of Columbia
   

23.7

39
   

New Jersey
   

23.7

40
   

Massachusetts
   

22.7

41
   

Hawaii
   

21.8

42
   

Colorado
   

20.7