Honolulu just pulled off the kind of last-place finish most cities would be thrilled to claim. In a new national rundown of obesity and overweight rates, the metro area landed at No. 100 out of 100, which in WalletHub terms means Honolulu came out on top for overall health in the ranking. The list, released Tuesday, puts the city at or near the front of the pack on food and fitness, and relatively low on health problems tied to excess weight, raising the question of how much island life and local policy are doing for residents' well-being.
According to WalletHub, Honolulu posted a total score of 58.81 and was ranked No. 100 overall. The site lists the metro at No. 96 for obesity and overweight, No. 97 for health consequences and No. 100 for food and fitness. WalletHub says it compared 100 metro areas across 19 indicators tied to weight and health, from projected obesity rates through 2050 to access to healthy food. Chip Lupo, a WalletHub analyst, told the site that investing in healthy food access and recreation "should help improve people’s diets and exercise regimens, and reduce the financial burden overall."
State level numbers help explain why Honolulu looks so good in that snapshot. Hawaiʻi’s adult obesity rate is about 27.0%, making it one of the least obese states, according to the Hawaiʻi Health Data Warehouse’s summary of BRFSS results. By contrast, the National Center for Health Statistics reports that roughly 40.3% of U.S. adults had obesity in the August 2021–August 2023 period. Those gaps between state and national prevalence help show how Honolulu can rise toward the healthiest end of a composite list, even while obesity remains a serious public health challenge across the country.
Why Honolulu Scored Well
Honolulu’s edge in the ranking leans heavily on food access and active living. The metro benefits from relatively easy access to parks and outdoor recreation, lower physical inactivity rates in parts of Oʻahu, and pockets of strong produce availability that lift its food and fitness score. Local planning and food system work also help reinforce those strengths, as the Integrated State Food Policy Framework ties public health goals to local agriculture, school nutrition and food security programs. Together, those supply side and built environment factors likely pushed Honolulu to the top of WalletHub’s food and fitness category.
How To Read The Ranking
The list is best read as a composite snapshot, not a detailed report card for every neighborhood. WalletHub weights three broad dimensions and 19 metrics, and some of its underlying data are only available at the state level, so each metro’s placement is relative rather than absolute. The report also flags the economic toll of excess weight, citing roughly $190.2 billion in annual medical costs and about $4.3 billion in lost productivity nationwide. That context turns Honolulu’s last place finish into a useful signal of local strengths, not a guarantee that every community on Oʻahu is sharing the same outcomes.
Local Public Health Work
State officials and public health advocates are already trying to keep those numbers headed in the right direction. The Hawaiʻi Health Data Warehouse notes a new Nutrition Fact Sheet and the rollout of a Diabetes Plan 2030 tracker intended to monitor progress and guide interventions. State and community food policy efforts emphasize school meal improvements, local procurement and programs that expand healthy food access, steps that could help sustain Honolulu’s advantage in future rankings. Public health leaders caution that continued investment in prevention and equitable access will determine whether strong aggregate scores translate into better health across all neighborhoods.
Local outlets picked up the WalletHub findings as soon as the study went public. As KHON2 reported, the ranking immediately sparked questions about which metrics truly capture life in the islands. For Honolulu readers, the bottom line is straightforward, the metro performs very well on the measures WalletHub examined, and the real test is whether ongoing public health work can spread those benefits broadly across Oʻahu.
