Relatively speaking, Minnesotans aren’t as fat as most other Americans.

But that apparent bit of good news is tempered by the fact that more adult residents of Minnesota are fatter than ever.

A report released Tuesday by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that the adult obesity rate nationwide in 2009 was nearly 27 percent and rising.

In Minnesota and 15 other states, the obesity rate was less than 25 percent. Specifically, in Minnesota it was 24.6 percent.

By comparison, 20 years ago, the obesity rate in the state stood at less than 15 percent.

The new results are based on a telephone survey of about 400,000 people who were asked their height and weight. CDC researchers then calculate whether the person is obese, following a standard formula for body mass index.

Under the formula, a 5-foot-4 woman is obese if she weighs 174 pounds or more and a 5-foot-10 man fits that description if he weighs at least 209 pounds.

The study found that nearly 27 percent of the surveyed adults said they were obese in 2009, up from about 25.5 percent in 2007, a small but statistically significant increase.

The new report also found that in nine states at least 30 percent of the adults were obese in 2009. The states, in a swath across the South and the nation’s midsection, were Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Oklahoma, West Virginia and Mississippi, the highest at 34 percent.

In 2007, only Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee topped 30 percent.

No states met a national goal for 2010 of limiting obesity to 15 percent. Only Colorado and the District of Columbia were lower than 20 percent, and just barely.

In the Upper Midwest, Minnesotans were in better shape than their natives. In Wisconsin, Iowa and the Dakotas, the obesity rate ranged between 25 percent and 29 percent.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.