Map shows the US states with the tallest AND shortest men. How big is YOUR hometown?

A new map shows which U.S. states have the tallest men. What’s more, people living in the heart of America have a bigger height advantage than those living on the coast.

Utah, Montana, South Dakota, Alabama, Tennessee and Nebraska tied for first place, with men averaging 5’10” (1.78 m) tall.

This was compared to Florida, the state with the smallest men, with an average height of 5 feet 9 inches.

The average height of an American man is 5 feet 9 inches, which is 2 inches taller than men in the tallest and shortest states.

Perhaps one of the biggest reasons the U.S. male population is declining is the increase in immigrants moving to certain states, such as California, where the average male height is 5’9”. Immigrants make up 23 percent of California’s population, with about 10 million immigrant residents – 49 percent of whom were born in Latin America and 40 percent in Asia.

Americans have been getting shorter since the 1980s, while men are the 47th tallest people in the world. The average height shows that if you are 6 feet or taller, you are an outlier.

Researchers attribute the shorter height of American men to a rise in childhood obesity and an influx of immigrants to states like California.

In 1914, American men were the third tallest in the world, while women were fourth. By 2024, however, that number had dropped 43 places, while women’s ranking had fallen to 58th, according to a study published in the journal. e-life.

People living in the Midwest are taller on average. Men are 5’10” tall, while people on the East Coast in states like New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts are between 5’10” and 5’10”.

Some researchers suspect that people living in the Midwest are taller because of Swedish and Norwegian immigrants who came to the U.S. in the late 1800s and settled primarily in Iowa, Minnesota, Dakota, and Wisconsin.

Several European countries, including the Netherlands, Iceland and Denmark, have some of the tallest people in the world, with the average height of a man being 1.80 metres.

“It is very interesting that 1980 is precisely the point at which American life expectancy began to lag behind European life expectancy,” said Professor John Komlos WBUR Newsand added: ‘It’s still increasing, but at a slower pace.’

Height differences can vary by state due to genetics, nutrition, health care and socioeconomic status, indicating that “the human organism is not doing as well in its economic environment as it used to,” Komlos said.

Perhaps one of the main reasons why the male population in the US is declining is the increase in immigrants moving to certain states, such as California, where the average height of men is 5 feet 9 inches.

Immigrants represented 23 percent of California’s population, with about 10 million immigrant residents — 49 percent of whom were born in Latin America and 40 percent of whom were born in Asia. Pew Research Center reported.

According to statistics from both Latin American and Asian regions, men are much shorter than in the US, at around 1.65 meters. World population overview.

Californians are the second shortest males in the country. According to the Public Policy Institute of California, this can be attributed to the state’s high number of foreign-born residents.

The northeastern states are grouped into similar heights of around 5’9″, while the northwest states, including Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, are around 5’9″.

In contrast, men in southern states such as Texas, Louisiana and New Mexico are shorter, standing under 5 feet 9 inches (1.78 meters).

Another reason is the rise in obesity that began in the 1980s, when the average height of Americans began to decline, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

People living in the Midwest are taller on average, with men standing at 5’8″ (1.78 m), while people on the East Coast in states like New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts range in height from 5’9″ (1.75 m) to 5’9″.

A 2022 study analyzed 130,000 children in California and found that childhood obesity is linked to both boys and girls entering puberty earlier, resulting in a smaller growth spurt than their peers.

Obesity can lead to early puberty in adolescents because fat tissue increases estrogen levels in boys and girls.

“Higher estrogen levels can lead to more mature bones. So your bones grow faster, but their growth plates fuse together sooner,” Louise Greenspan, a pediatric endocrinologist at Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Medical Center, told me The Washington Post.

If bone growth in children stops prematurely, this can cause them to become shorter.

“It’s become a habit to have prepared food, which is less healthy than home-made fresh food. And as a result, the obesity epidemic has begun,” Komlos told WBUR.

Utah, one of the states with the highest male height, has a much lower obesity rate than the national average: 9.7 percent of high school seniors are obese, compared to the national average of 15.5 percent.

In Florida, home to the nation’s smallest men, the average obesity rate for the same age group is 15.3 percent, which is on par with the rest of the U.S.

If the American population wants to increase its average height to compete with other countries in the world, Ezzati said The Weekly that the optimal ways are: ‘good social services, good social services, good health care, good nutrition and good public health.’