We Agree! Study Calls New York the ‘Best State in America’ for Sports Lovers
We've always believed that New York has the best sports teams, and the best sports fans, in the country. Now, we've found data that backs this claim up.
A study was recently done by the experts at SmileHub Ratings that determined the best states in America for sports lovers.
The goal was to assign a numerical value to the concept of "sports fandom" for each state in the union, and rank states from first to last based on that number. To do so, they compared each of the 50 states based on 20 key metrics, including the number of sports charities per capita, the presence of legal sports betting and more.
All of the data collected was condensed into a total score, and when it was all said and done, the Empire State reigned supreme. With a total score of 50.36, New York was named the best state in the nation for sports lovers.
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In three key categories, New York was ranked 3rd in Sports Interest & Success Rank, 12th in Sports Careers & Income Rank and 4th in Access to Sports Rank.
California, Ohio, Illinois and Indiana rounded out the study's top five states for sports lovers in 2024. On the other end of the spectrum, Hawaii was ranked last.
These were the rankings assigned to states surrounding New York on the map:
- Massachusetts: 11th
- Connecticut: 29th
- Vermont: 44th
- New Hampshire: 34th
- New Jersey: 16th
- Pennsylvania: 6th
- Rhode Island: 32nd
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