Spatial Correlates of U.S. Heights and BMIs, 2002

Aiming to further explore possible underlying causes for the recent
stagnation in American heights, this paper describes the result of
analysis of the commercial U.S. Sizing Survey. Using zip codes
available in the data set, we consider geographic correlates of
height such as local poverty rate, median income, and population
density. We find that after adjusting for variables known to
influence height such as income and education, population density
is negatively correlated with height among white men, but only
marginally among white women. Similar analysis of Body Mass Index
(BMI) also shows a negative correlation with population density
after adjustment for income, education, and age for both sexes.
Local economic conditions as measured by median income,
unemployment rate or poverty rate do not have a strong correlation
with height or weight after adjusting for individual income and
education.