Which Professions Have the Highest Percentage of Obese Workers?

Cue the jokes.

It turns out that police officers have the highest rate of obesity across all professions in the U.S., along with firefighters and security guards,  according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of data from the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Image source: YouTube

Cops, firefighters and security guards together have an obesity rate of 40.7 percent, according to the Journal.

How do other jobs compare?

Four other groups came in a bit lower, in the 30 percent range, but are still considered part of the "highest" in terms of percentage of obese workers:

• Social workers, clergy, counselors: 35.6

• Home health care aides, massage therapists: 35.8

• Architects, engineers: 34.1

• Bus drivers, truckers, crane operators, garbage, collectors: 32.8

Things taper off considerably for these four groups, all considered part of the "lowest" range:

• Janitors, maids, landscapers: 23.5

• Cooks, bartenders, food servers: 23.1

• Physicians, dentists, EMTs, nurses: 22.0

• Artists, actors, athletes, reporters: 20.1

But one group blows away the rest in terms of lack of obesity; folks in these three professions have by far the lowest percentage of workers in need of a diet, at a paltry 14.2 percent. They are...economists, scientists, and psychologists.

(H/T: Time)