Technical Abstract: An increasing number of US children are becoming obese. In a nationally representative sample, Ogden et al found that 10.4% of children aged 2 to 5 years had a body mass index (BMI) above the 95th percentile. We examined the prevalence of overweight children by race, sex, and income in these 2 states with higher prevalence rates. Among the 1968 children enrolled in Head Start, 305 (15.5%) were overweight. In all racial and sex categories, the prevalence of overweight was significantly higher in Head Start sample than those reported by Ogden et al. Among the 1585 children in the Hi5+ sample, 24.4% were overweight. Each race and sex category of Hi5+ consistently exceeded the prevalence rate for overweight in Alabama as found in YRBSS data. In the Hi5+ sample, the prevalence of overweight among children from low-income families was not significantly different than that among children from higher-income families for any of the 4 race-by-sex categories. The prevalence of overweight in our Head Start sample in Texas and Alabama is much higher than that reported in national surveys.