The hypothesis of metabolically healthy obesity posits that adverse health effects of obesity are largely avoided when obesity is accompanied by a favorable metabolic profile. We tested this hypothesis with depressive symptoms as the outcome using cross-sectional data on obesity, metabolic health and depressive symptoms. Data were extracted from eight studies and pooled for individual-participant meta-analysis with 30,337 men and women aged 15-105 years (mean age=46.1). Clinic measures included height, weight and metabolic risk factors (high blood pressure, high triglycerides, low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, high C-reactive protein and high glycated hemoglobin). Depressive symptoms were assessed using clinical interview or standardized rating scales. The pooled sample comprised 7673 (25%) obese participants (body mass index ⩾30 kg m(-2)). Compared to all non-obese individuals, the OR for depressive symptoms was higher in metabolically unhealthy obese individuals with two or more metabolic risk factors (1.45; 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.30, 1.61) and for metabolically healthy obese with ⩽1 metabolic risk factor (1.19; 95% CI=1.03, 1.37), adjusted for sex, age and race/ethnicity. Metabolically unhealthy obesity was associated with higher depression risk (OR=1.23; 95% CI=1.05, 1.45) compared with metabolically healthy obesity. These associations were consistent across studies with no evidence for heterogeneity in estimates (all I(2)-values