New York is the fourth most populated state in the US, with over 19 million people calling it home. The Empire state houses the New York Stock Exchange, two baseball teams — the Yankees and the Mets, two football teams — the Giants and the Jets, and two hockey teams — the Rangers and the Islanders. New York City has 850 miles of subway track traversing its 302.6 square miles.
Other notable tidbits about New York include hosting the first American chess tournament in 1843, Albany and Schenectady are connected by the US’s first railroad, and New York was the first state to require license plates on cars. New York is made up of 63 counties. During the decade spanning 2012 to 2022, only one county — Putnam — reduced its population’s obesity percentage, dropping it by two points. Seneca was the only country to keep its population’s obesity percentage static.
The other 61 counties in New York saw the obesity percentage of their respective populations increase from 2012 to 2022. Check out the infographic below showing the trends:
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[Related: New York’s 50 Top Cities for Fit Lifestyles]
Franklin saw the most significant rise in obesity, increasing 11 percentage points over the decade. It is the only county to garner a double-digit jump and is the most obese county in New York at 39 percent as of 2022. Westchester and Cayuga weren’t too far behind, each boasting a nine-point increase in obesity to 26 and 34 percent, respectively.
Only nine of New York’s 63 counties have sub-30-percent obesity as of 2022: Putnam, Kings, Suffolk, Rockland, Queens, Tompkins, Nassau, New York, and Westchester. Six counties have at least 35 percent obesity. Approximately one in three people in New York state are considered obese.
When analyzing each county on a curve against its fellow counties in the state, Kings, Queens, New York, and Westchester are the only counties that can tout a drop in obesity percentage. New York performed strongest with a five-point drop. Despite Westchester falling into this group and having one of the lowest obesity percentages in the state at 26 percent, it still endured the second-largest spike in obesity since 2012.
Franklin and Oswego fared the poorest compared to the state’s average. Franklin rose 12 points, and Oswego jumped 11 points.
Featured image via Shutterstock/Sean Pavone