5 States Where Prospects Are Getting Fat Fast, With 50 States of Trend Data

The future of the U.S. financial services sector depends, heavily, on what Americans weigh. Weight influences whether prospects can get life insurance, what health insurers' earnings will look like, and how much cash Medicare and Medicaid will need to pull from the economy to support their operations. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) classifies adults as being obese if they have a body mass index, or BMI, of 30 or greater. For an adult standing 5 feet 9 inches tall, for example, that BMI range translates into a weight of 203 pounds or more. One source of state obesity data is the CDC's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey program.

More articles in this Health Data Atlas collection:

• Where More Prospects Are Binge Drinking
• Where More Prospects Are Getting Coronary Heart Disease
• Where More Prospects Have Diabetes
• Where More Prospects Are Getting Kidney Disease
• Where More Prospects Are Having Lung Problems

Government policymakers tend to focus on the needs of low-income people. When you're thinking about prospects, and current clients, you may prefer to focus on the people who are most likely to be able to afford to pay for financial services prospects: the people with some money. Here, in the data card gallery above, is a look at the five states where the percentage of relatively high-earning adults, or those with a household income of $50,000 or higher, increased the most between 2013 BRFSS survey and the 2018 survey. (Wiggle your pointer ove the first slide to make the control arrows show up.) For data on all 50 states and the District of Columbia, see the table below. .