COVID-19 Working Paper: Obesity Prevalence Among U.S. Adult Subpopulations During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic

by Mariah Ehmke and Brandon J. Restrepo

The COVID-19 pandemic shock affected obesity rates differently across distinct population subgroups with existing obesity prevalence disparities. This report measures changes in U.S. adult obesity rates overall and across a wide variety of demographic and socioeconomic subgroups during the first year of the pandemic—March 2020 to March 2021. While the U.S. obesity rate significantly increased by 1.3 percentage points (pp) in the overall adult population during the first year of the pandemic, pronounced increases occurred among younger adults aged 20–39 (2.0 pp), adults with a household income eligible for SNAP benefits (2.5 pp), adults residing in the West Census region (2.8 pp), and adults with less than a high school diploma (3.3 pp).

How to Cite:

Ehmke, M.D., & Restrepo, B.J. (2023). Obesity prevalence among U.S. adult subpopulations during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic (Report No. AP-115). U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. https://doi.org/10.32747/2023.8122121.ers

Keywords: COVID-19, Coronavirus, pandemic, obesity, rural obesity, urban obesity, household characteristics, race, ethnicity, gender, age, employment, income, education, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, BRFSS

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