Health
We Found Ozempictown, USA. It’s Not Where You Think.
Bowling Green, KY, has one of the highest concentrations of people with a prescription for a weight-loss drug.
A water tower in Bowling Green, KY.
Photographer: Stacy Kranitz for Bloomberg BusinessweekThis article is for subscribers only.
If just 10% of the US population took weight-loss drugs, it would have a major effect on the economy. Goldman Sachs estimated even that small amount could boost US GDP by 0.4%, as people live longer, healthier lives.
To test that thesis, we decided to search for a town or city in the US with high uptake of Ozempic and similar drugs and spend time there to suss out any changes ourselves. Given how popular weight-loss shots have become, we figured we would be able to at least start seeing economic and other effects show up by now.