# The 10 most and least healthy states in the US **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 15, 2013, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-10-most-and-least-healthy-states-in-the-us/676351 "2013-12-15T03:25:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-10-most-and-least-healthy-states-in-the-us/676351/21 "2013-12-15T18:38:56Z")
I’m surprised Wisconsin isn’t among the ten worst, considering its output of dairy products, alcohol, and red meat. I remember reading somewhere once that it had the highest level of heart disease in the US. I also remember from living there that the people aren’t terribly concerned about tobacco-related diseases either (or at least they weren’t in 1988–90). As for Minnesota, I spent roughly two-thirds of my life there, and by the time I finally left it had just as many porkers as any other state of the Union. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-10-most-and-least-healthy-states-in-the-us/676351/22 "2013-12-15T20:30:41Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > The worst is when an article links to _another article_ about a report, as opposed to the report itself. Argh! God, if I didn’t love the internet so much, I would f-ing hate it. Preach it. > [@deltasigma](#): > > I just post this stuff for the casual amusement value. I don’t think anyone actually cares about it. The thing that got my attention was the fact that NJ was on the healthy list. But if morbidity and mortality statistics are what you’re into, that’s cool. I would suggest checking out the [CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)](http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/). That’s probably where a lot of the information comes from anyway. I hope you did not see my post as a personal attack; after all, you did not write the article. Unless you did. In which case, I blame your editors. I just like to know I can get to the facts behind the articles - isn’t that the point of the internet? The report website is actually pretty interesting, and includes a lot of sources for the data. (Including, yes, even Morbidity and Mortality Weekly. Even I don’t read those.) > [@terentii](#): > > I’m surprised Wisconsin isn’t among the ten worst, considering its output of dairy products, alcohol, and red meat. I remember reading somewhere once that it had the highest level of heart disease in the US. I also remember from living there that the people aren’t terribly concerned about tobacco-related diseases either (or at least they weren’t in 1988–90). > > As for Minnesota, I spent roughly two-thirds of my life there, and by the time I finally left it had just as many porkers as any other state of the Union. Yes, most of the states are in the 24.1% - 29.7% range for obesity with Minnesota, but Minnesota herself ranks 13th at 25.7%. Wisconsin is pretty high on obesity, binge drinking, and smoking, but apparently the high rate of high school graduation, physical activity, health insurance, and immunization off-sets that. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-10-most-and-least-healthy-states-in-the-us/676351/23 "2013-12-15T22:26:01Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > The worst is when an article links to _another article_ about a report, as opposed to the report itself. Argh! God, if I didn’t love the internet so much, I would f-ing hate it. Remember that, if people go and read the report, they’re not reading the shitty news sites. Shitty news sites have no vested interest in having you get your information straight from the original source. Stuff like this also poses a problem for discussion forums like this one, because it’s not unusual for people to read an article about some alleged problem, get all outraged, and post a rant about it, without ever going to the original source. It then turns out, quite frequently, that the news story they’ve relied on has completely screwed up in its analysis of the original source. One recent example i can think of is when **magellan01** embarrassed himself with a [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=660389) on a court ruling about the Department of Justice’s investigation of the New Black Panther Party. The crappy news site referenced by the OP misrepresented the nature of the court ruling, as a quick perusal of the ruling would have made clear to anyone willing to take five minutes. There was also a [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=655953) on the cost of subsidizing renewable energy where the OP, **ralph124c** (_quelle surprise!_), used a poor interpretation of a report as the basis for his own even worse interpretation. ---
**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-10-most-and-least-healthy-states-in-the-us/676351/24 "2013-12-15T23:00:42Z")
> [@j666](#): > > I hope you did not see my post as a personal attack; after all, you did not write the article. Unless you did. In which case, I blame your editors. Not at all. I’m not sure how I gave that impression unless I might have seemed a bit passive aggressive, but that certainly wasn’t my intent. I was actually going to refer you some of the publications offered by the US GPO but those are pretty expensive so I figured I would try to find out if the MMWR was available online. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-10-most-and-least-healthy-states-in-the-us/676351/25 "2013-12-16T02:16:45Z")
> [@deltasigma](#): > > Not at all. I’m not sure how I gave that impression unless I might have seemed a bit passive aggressive, but that certainly wasn’t my intent. I was actually going to refer you some of the publications offered by the US GPO but those are pretty expensive so I figured I would try to find out if the MMWR was available online. 🙂 Expensive - really? So much stuff is free, or at least free for direct download. I get those scheduled email updates from a lot of government agencies; I can’t keep up with the free stuff, never mind paying for anything. But then, I am not in academia. I think reports like this are very informative, as long as you know what metrics are being evaluated. I just get so frustrated when we are not given the links. I believe an educated press filtering and analyzing information is A Good Thing. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to check out the “raw data” for myself. When any news site does not provide links to the background information, they loose credibility in my eyes. This is the internet; last I checked, links were free. ---
**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-10-most-and-least-healthy-states-in-the-us/676351/26 "2013-12-16T02:27:59Z")
I was talking about the MMWR. That’s pretty [expensive](http://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/717-016-00000-9) - at least for the printed version. So I searched for the online version. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-10-most-and-least-healthy-states-in-the-us/676351/27 "2013-12-16T11:21:06Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > For least healthy, a large percentage of blacks (especially poor blacks) in the South stands out. What stands out to me is how the Least Healthy ones are all Republican states, and (most) of the Most Healthy ones are Democratic! Apparently the political attitude in a state can affect the general health of the population – a more ‘progressive’ approach to public health concerns translates into actual improvements in healthy outcomes. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-10-most-and-least-healthy-states-in-the-us/676351/28 "2013-12-16T11:30:21Z")
Theres a lot of rural poverty in the Arkansas Delta. A lot of smaller towns have trouble keeping Doctors. My hometown is considered a regional hospital and even there doctors come in on 4 year contracts and then leave. My mom has to drive thirty miles to see her primary doctor. The local hospitals do routine care and operations. Most of the specialists are in Little Rock. People from all over the state come to the Little Rock hospitals for major operations. I’m not surprised Arkansas is #2 on the list. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-10-most-and-least-healthy-states-in-the-us/676351/29 "2013-12-16T11:58:33Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > For least healthy, a large percentage of blacks (especially poor blacks) in the South stands out. Oklahoma and Kentucky don’t have particularly large proportions of blacks, and W. Virginia very white. I suspect its proportion under the poverty line that’s the determining factor. [This list of states by poverty rate](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_poverty_rate) tracks the “most/least healthy list” pretty closely. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-10-most-and-least-healthy-states-in-the-us/676351/30 "2013-12-17T03:11:08Z")
> [@deltasigma](#): > > I was talking about the MMWR. That’s pretty [expensive](http://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/717-016-00000-9) - at least for the printed version. So I searched for the online version. Ouch, that is dear. > [@Simplicio](#): > > Oklahoma and Kentucky don’t have particularly large proportions of blacks, and W. Virginia very white. > > I suspect its proportion under the poverty line that’s the determining factor. [This list of states by poverty rate](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_poverty_rate) tracks the “most/least healthy list” pretty closely. Childhood poverty is one of the determinants. Several of the other metrics, I believe, correlate closely with poverty. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-10-most-and-least-healthy-states-in-the-us/676351/31 "2013-12-17T04:33:38Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Indiana, the “south” of the North. Woody Boyd is from Indiana, and was voted the [smartest student in school](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woody_Boyd). ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-10-most-and-least-healthy-states-in-the-us/676351/32 "2013-12-17T08:53:56Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > …I’m not surprised Arkansas is #2 on the list. My in-laws in Arkansas tell me the state motto is “thank god for Mississippi.” ---
**Author:** ![James\_Toothpaste](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e56c9b/32.png) [@James\_Toothpaste](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/James_Toothpaste)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-10-most-and-least-healthy-states-in-the-us/676351/33 "2013-12-17T21:49:19Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > Minneapolis/St.Paul was one of the first areas to lose ALL of their Krispy Kreme shops in their decline. They also have no Dunkin Donuts. The only place to get donuts is a specialty bakery or grocery store or gas station. Some folks wanted Dunkin Donuts to open here but DD response was that market research showed their wasn’t enough demand. Ohh… That’s sad. :(☹ ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-10-most-and-least-healthy-states-in-the-us/676351/34 "2013-12-17T22:50:06Z")
> [@James\_Toothpaste](#): > > Ohh… That’s sad. :(☹ Hardly. We have lots of local bakeries that make doughnuts, and better ones than the way over-ratedones from Krispy Kreme. They were here for a while, but closed up – people here soon decided that they were over priced and not that good. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-10-most-and-least-healthy-states-in-the-us/676351/35 "2013-12-17T23:53:28Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Hardly. We have lots of local bakeries that make doughnuts, and better ones than the way over-ratedones from Krispy Kreme. They were here for a while, but closed up – people here soon decided that they were over priced and not that good. Yeah, there’s a few good ones around (Yo-Yo Donuts) but not many close to me (Maple Grove). ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-10-most-and-least-healthy-states-in-the-us/676351/36 "2013-12-18T05:39:01Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Hardly. We have lots of local bakeries that make doughnuts, and better ones than the way over-ratedones from Krispy Kreme. They were here for a while, but closed up – people here soon decided that they were over priced and not that good. Agreed. I never did understand the attraction to KK. I’ll take a nice, yeasty treat from Mel-O-Glaze instead. In fact, I’ll take several of them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-10-most-and-least-healthy-states-in-the-us/676351.md?page=1)