Ever wondered which state ranks the highest for happiness, entertainment and beyond? We’ve got a US State Map that will reveal just that!
Are You Not Entertained? – Every State Ranked by Entertainment
When it comes to entertainment, every state has it’s way to take care of it’s citizens and tourist and a new study from PlayNJ finds which states offer the most when it comes to just that. California tops the list overall, but is only 13th when it comes to happiness. Texas takes second place thanks to dominating the sports options.
With the size and variety of USA, the American culture, weather, and landscape differs drastically from state to state. From super busy city life in New York to the a more quiet climes of Utah. And as far as entertainment and relaxation goes, everywhere has something different to do offer. But which states have the most to do?
In a new piece of research from PlayNJ, you can find out which states offer the highest number of theatre, theme parks, sports stadiums, and more things to do, including tourism income and happiness, in order to find if your state tops the charts for top trips.
Let Me Entertain You
As previously mentioned, the overall winner was California thanks to its high tourism income, with Texas as a runner-up, the top winners for each specific metric were much more spread out:
- When it comes to happiness Hawaii ranks the highest. Although it seems that entertainment options don’t necessarily equal happiness, as Hawaii only reaches #20 on the overall rankings even though its number one when it came to happiness.
- Casinos – no surprises here, with Las Vegas being one of the most well know places on earth when it comes to casinos, it pushed Nevada to it’s rightful first place. What happens in Vegas…
- Theme Parks – if you are looking for a thrill in a theme park New Jersey is your number own. – Looks like New Jersey is the theme park capital of America, with 30 available for residents and visitors. The next entry on the list was Tennessee, which had 29.
- Sports Stadiums and Zoos lovers have to pay a visit to Texas as this Southern state came out on top when it came to seeing both animals and sports teams. Go Cowboys!
- TripAdvisor’s Things to Do – Florida – According to TripAdvisor, the place with the most things to see and do is Florida. Some states offer completely unique experiences that can’t be assigned to any other category, Florida rules them all.
- Theatres –if you are looking for a theatrical threat you just have to plan your vacations in Illinois. Illinois made it into the top ten states overall at #9, but its stand-out success was in the number of theatres with an impressive number of 98, 4 more than the next most successful, Missouri, and 86 more than the worst, North Dakota.
- Tourism Income – California – Cali’s tourism spend blew all the others out of the water, reaching $126.3 billion in 2016, over $37 billion more than the runner-up, Florida.
Top Score
If you want to have a good time and a “little bit of everything” these top five states are worth looking into. They came from all across the US and were supported by different forms of entertainment. Remarkably, the highest any of them reached in terms of happiness was the position of 10th happiest state – Texas.
- California – California took the crown in tourism, but it also scored highly when it came to both zoos and sports stadiums, only losing out to Texas on each.
- Texas – The only state to win on more than just one category, Texas is the American sports hub, and also home to the most zoos.
- Florida – according to TripAdvisor, Florida has a lot going on, including hundreds of miles of beaches and the Everglades.
- New York – New York, New York, the city so good they named it twice! Twice the name, twice the fun as it has and a lot of casinos, theatres, zoos, and sports stadiums.
- Nevada – The glittering lights of Las Vegas have drawn tourists to Vegas for years and will continue so for years to come, and there was never any chance that Nevada would be let down by its casino options, which certainly pulled it into the top five. It also fared well on theatres and, also unsurprisingly, tourism income.
For more of America’s most entertaining states, check out the full map on PlayNJ here.
Helen
Helen is a mum to two, social media consultant, and website editor; and this site is (we think) the only Social Enterprise parenting magazine! Since giving up being a business analyst when juggling travel, work and kids proved too complicated, she founded KiddyCharts so she could be with her kids, and use those grey cells at the same time. KiddyCharts has reach of over 1.1million across social and the site. The blog works with big family brands (including travel) to help promote their services, as well as offering free resources to parents of kids under 10. It gives 51%+ profits to Reverence for Life, who fund a number of important initiatives in Africa, including bringing running water and basic equipment to a school in Tanzania. Helen has worked as a digital marketing consultant (IDM qualified) with various organisations, including Channel Mum, Truprint, Talk to Mums, and Micro Scooters. She loves to be creative in the brand campaigns she works on. Get in touch TODAY!