After increasing steadily for decades, the national childhood obesity rate has leveled off, but it is still alarmingly high compared with to a generation ago. The federal government has several sources that track obesity rates among children and teens, including the National Health and Nutrition Evaluation Survey and three major studies that track national trends and rates within some states

While the report shares new data on adult obesity rates, national data show that over the past decade, childhood obesity rates have stabilized at about 17 percent and are declining among 2- to 5-year-olds. A number of cities, counties and states, including St. Cloud, Minnesota, Cherokee County, South Carolina, Seminole County, Florida, Southern California, Philadelphia, Colorado, and New Mexico, have measured declines in their childhood obesity rates in the last year alone, joining a list of many others from coast to coast.