Weight watching

Dallas-Fort Worth tips the scales as one of nation’s fattest metros, new report says

Being healthy is not a contest.

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Here’s the skinny on obesity in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area: The region appears at No. 27 in a new ranking of the fattest places in the country.

Personal finance website WalletHub just released its 2022 ranking of the country’s fattest places. The website compared 100 of the most populated U.S. metro areas across 19 key indicators of weight-related problems. The ranking factors include the percentage of physically inactive adults, projected obesity rates by 2030, and access to healthy food.

Based on those indicators, Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington ranks 27th, making it the third-fattest major metro in Texas. The McAllen area ranks first in the U.S. and, therefore, in Texas. San Antonio ranks second in Texas.

DFW shows up at No. 19 in the study’s “obesity and overweight” category, No. 38 in the “health consequences” category, and No. 33 in the “food and fitness” category. (Higher numbers are better than lower numbers.)

“There are lots of ideas for policies to combat obesity. So far, most programs have not achieved the gains they have aimed for. Instead, obesity continues to rise,” Kathleen Davis, assistant professor of nutrition and food sciences at Texas Woman’s University in Denton, tells WalletHub.

Here’s how the major metros in Texas rank in the WalletHub study:

San Antonio, No, 25
Dallas-Fort Worth, No. 27
El Paso, No. 30
Houston, No. 36
Austin, No. 54

Nationwide, WalletHub ranks the top five fattest metro areas as McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas (No. 1), Memphis, Tennessee (No. 2), Knoxville, Tennessee (No. 3), Mobile, Alabama (No. 4), and Jackson, Mississippi (No. 5).

"Remember that being healthier is not a contest," Davis says. "Your health is your concern and every time you make a healthier choice, this advances YOUR goals. None of us is perfect, so forgive yourself and move on to the next opportunity to make a healthy choice."

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Daring to care

Kindhearted Plano ranks among the 10 most caring cities in America

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Plano is one of the happiest and most caring places to be.

Plano has some of the kindest, most generous residents in the country. So says a new report that ranks the Dallas suburb the No. 10 most caring city in the United States.

The personal finance website WalletHub compared 100 of the most populated U.S. cities across 38 metrics across three key dimensions for its study, "Most Caring Cities in America (2025)". They include caring for the local community, caring for the vulnerable, and caring in the workforce.

The north Dallas suburb made a big leap over its 2023 ranking as the No. 17 most caring American city.

Out of the three main categories, Plano performed the best for its "caring for the community" rank (No. 8), which was determined based on the city's crime rates, the civic engagement of its residents, the share of a household's income donated to charity, and more.

Plano also cares for its community in other ways, whether it's through maintaining its long-held family-friendly reputation or by maintaining a pristine park system. All of these reasons contribute to why so many people are choosing to live in the second-happiest city in the nation.

Plano also ranked fairly well in the overall "caring for the vulnerable" category (No. 12), which covers child and adult poverty rates, adoption rates, availability of paid family leave, the number of rehab centers per capita, pet shelters and rescue services, and the "disability-friendliness" of employers.

Plano still has plenty of work to do when it comes to caring for its workforce, however, as the city ranked No. 71 out of all 100 U.S. cities. This metric focused on the number of first responders, healthcare professionals, teachers, and counselors per capita.

WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo says there are many factors that make cities like Plano a true "caring" and supportive place for its residents.

"The most caring cities donate a lot of money to charity and have high volunteer rates, but being a caring city overall requires much more than just giving time or money," Lupo said. "In addition, the top cities have low crime rates, environmentally-friendly residents and low rates of poverty and homelessness."

But small steps are important, too. Community care is as simple as helping an elderly neighbor unload groceries from their car, keeping a vigilant eye out for porch pirates or suspicious activity, and spending quality time with loved ones.

Plano was once again the highest ranked Texas city in WalletHub's list. Other North Texas cities that earned spots in the report include Irving (No. 36), Garland (No. 39), Fort Worth (No. 54), Arlington (No. 58), and Dallas (No. 77).

Elsewhere in Texas, Austin ranked No. 45, while San Antonio (No. 89) and Houston (No. 91) barely skirted onto the list.

The top 10 most caring U.S. cities, according to WalletHub, are:

No. 1 – Virginia Beach, Virginia
No. 2 – Scottsdale, Arizona
No. 3 – Boston, Massachusetts
No. 4 – Gilbert, Arizona
No. 5 – Chesapeake, Virginia
No. 6 – Fremont, California
No. 7 – San Diego, California
No. 8 – Madison, Wisconsin
No. 9 – Colorado Springs, Colorado
No. 10 – Plano, Texas

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