Silicon Valley is Thinner Than San Francisco-Oakland, Report Says

The South Bay and San Francisco compete on a multitude of fronts: Which will snag the hottest tech firms, which can retain or attract the most sports teams, which will win the prize for least affordable housing...

But no matter how many prestige points San Francisco racks up, the South Bay can claim bragging rights based on at least one important metric: weight.

That's according to WalletHub, a personal finance website that spends a lot of time compiling data on all sorts of things. (Last month they told us the Bay Area is one of the more diverse regions in the U.S.) From the site:

In light of National Nutrition Month, WalletHub analyzed 100 of the most populated U.S. metro areas to identify those where weight-related problems call for heightened attention. We did so by examining 12 key metrics, among which are the percentage of adults and high school students who are obese and the percentage of people who are physically inactive.

WalletHub ranked the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara area as having the third-smallest problem with weight. That was best in the Bay Area and two slots higher than San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, which came in at No. 5. (San Franciscans, feel free to blame Oakland and Hayward for weighing you down; Oaklanders and Haywardians, commence vice versa.)

In terms of obesity itself, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara is sixth best, San Francisco et al. is three slots behind at No. 9.

Here's the methodology the site used. The report drew on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service, the Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative and WalletHub's own research, it said.

Of course, obesity's nothing to joke about -- it can lead to diabetes, heart disease, stroke and a host of other health problems. WalletHub asked medical and health academic experts to weigh in on the impact of the problem and how to combat it here.

And here's a clickable map where you can see which communities have the most and least problems with weight: