States with the Most Asthma

Asthma breaks the mold of our health maps. On almost every other CDC ranking, the worst rates pile up in one region — the Deep South for inactivity, Appalachia for obesity, depression, and arthritis. Asthma refuses to do that. The two states at the very top, Oregon (14.16%) and West Virginia (14.14%), are separated by just 0.02 of a percentage point — a near dead heat — yet they have almost nothing else in common. That tie, between a Pacific Northwest state and an Appalachian one, is the whole story in miniature.

Look at the rest of the top five and the scatter only widens: Maine (13.94%) and New Hampshire (12.75%) in New England, Michigan (12.67%) in the Upper Midwest, alongside West Virginia. Four different corners of the country, no shared regional thread. Compare that to where you'd expect a "sickest states" list to point — West Virginia alone tops our maps for obesity (41.4%), adult smoking (20.78%), arthritis (41.22%), depression (30.22%), diabetes (18.36%), and worst self-rated health (26.31%). Yet on asthma, even West Virginia gets edged out. Whatever drives those other rankings, it isn't the main thing driving this one.

The spread is also unusually tight. The gap from #1 to #50 runs from 14.16% in Oregon down to 8.11% in California — roughly six points, less than a 2-to-1 ratio. Several of our other maps stretch much further: depression runs more than two-to-one (30.22% to 13.29%), and diabetes more than twofold as well. Asthma is compressed by comparison; even the "least asthma" states aren't far below the leaders. Texas (8.55%) sits just ahead of California at the bottom, and both are populous, warm-climate states — a hint, not a proof, that geography and environment may matter more here than the lifestyle factors that sort the other maps.

A note on what the number means, because it's easy to misread. This measures adults who currently have asthma — people who say they still have the condition today — not everyone who was ever diagnosed at some point in life, which would push the figures much higher. It's self-reported, so it reflects what people know and report about their own health. Asthma carries little of the stigma that complicates a map like depression, so under-reporting is less of a concern; differences more likely track real exposure — air quality, allergens, climate, and the mix of who lives where — though no single cause can be pinned down from a ranking alone.

A note on method: every state here comes from the same CDC survey (BRFSS), the same year (2024), and the same definition — adults who currently have asthma — so the 50-state comparison is apples-to-apples. The one exception is Tennessee, shown with its 2023 value, because CDC hadn't released a 2024 figure for it; that's disclosed on the state's row. The numbers are CDC's; the ranking and analysis are ours.