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The Luckiest Places in the USA

New York and East Coast states dominate US fortune rankings; Hawaii, Utah, and Tennessee hit rock bottom

New York residents are officially among the luckiest in the country, finding themselves at the forefront of a fortunate cluster of East Coast states. According to in-depth statistical research from Ignition Casino, those running on Eastern Time have been judged to be among the most blessed in the USA.

With New York, Delaware, and New Jersey all landing in the top eight, there is plenty of representation for those whose zip codes begin with a 0 or a 1. However, it’s tiny Rhode Island that ultimately leads the way across the entire nation as the absolute luckiest state.

On the flip side, the research highlighted that island life might require making your own luck; Hawaii ranks as the most unlucky state in the US. It is joined in the bottom 10 by Utah, Tennessee, and Texas.

The lack of gaming opportunities per capita and jackpot winners restrict how lucky some states can be.

What makes a “lucky” state?

When we talk about luck, we aren’t just looking at random chance. To define what makes a state fortunate, this study looks at a combination of real-world opportunities and cultural habits. We break luck down into a few distinct categories:

  • Gaming & Jackpots: Where the big winners live, and how many major lottery jackpots have been claimed.
  • Weather Events: The absence of freak environmental anomalies or costly natural disasters.
  • Superstitions: How much the local population actively tries to manifest good fortune through their daily beliefs and habits.

How are the luckiest states calculated?

The aim of this research is to establish and rank the luckiest and most unlucky states in the USA – and, by extension, zip codes, given that the opening number of each zip code corresponds to a specific region within the country.

To build on the definition of luck outlined above, four distinct criteria were analyzed to give a comprehensive final score. Each metric was given a weighted, standardized score out of a total of 100 points:

  • Wins (scored out of 40): Simply, this measures how often people win in each state. To do this, all Powerball winners since 1992 and Mega Millions jackpot winners since 1996 were collated, then divided per 1,000,000 residents in each state.
  • Gaming (scored out of 30): This measures the opportunity people have to test their luck. To calculate this, the total number of casinos was recorded against the population density per casino within the state.
  • Anomalies (scored out of 20): How likely are you to be caught out by an unfortunate, freak event? This criteria tracks the number of weather events that have caused losses of $1bn or more since 1980, as well as weather-related injuries and deaths within the last 10 years.
  • Superstitions (scored out of 10): This looks at those who try to manifest luck through their actions. We measured each state’s Google Trends score for the search terms ‘lucky charms’, ‘horoscopes’, and ‘win the lottery’.

Each state was then ranked based on the combined scores of these criteria to crown the luckiest places in the United States.

STATESTARTING ZIP NO.WINSGAMINGANOMALIESSUPERSTITIONTOTAL LUCK SCORE
Rhode Island015.727.78.76.658.7
New Jersey021.625.82.27.056.5
New York116.427.64.26.854.9
Michigan413.528.55.56.854.3
Delaware114.028.64.96.754.3
Ohio413.325.64.96.950.6
South Dakota512.329.90.57.149.8
Maryland213.325.84.25.749.0
Indiana48.328.02.07.045.3
Illinois69.126.92.86.345.2
Kansas67.628.91.76.844.9
Nebraska66.429.02.37.044.7
West Virginia26.328.52.37.544.6
California97.628.02.96.044.5
Connecticut03.122.612.26.544.4
Idaho87.329.21.26.644.3
Minnesota56.129.32.66.444.3
Alaska9029.08.7643.7
Virginia29.422.94.06.542.8
Missouri66.628.10.86.842.1
Louisiana74.629.20.97.342.1
Arizona84.529.01.27.342.0
Wisconsin55.329.11.16.441.9
Maine05.227.22.76.741.8
Montana54.729.70.96.441.7
Massachusetts03.120.410.86.740.9
New Mexico83.029.71.1740.8
Iowa53.629.41.56.140.7
Washington91.329.03.15.539.0
Pennsylvania12.526.92.86.839.0
Oregon92.128.42.25.938.6
Oklahoma71.329.90.16.938.2
Wyoming8029.20.57.937.7
North Dakota5029.61.56.437.5
Colorado80.729.31.35.937.1
Nevada8029.91.06.037.0
Arkansas73.625.90.76.837.0
Mississippi3029.60.36.636.5
Florida31.724.52.26.134.4
District of Columbia22007.44.932.3
Alabama3023.10.96.630.6
North Carolina21.415.72.86.526.4
New Hampshire015.303.56.525.3
Georgia311.502.86.420.7
Kentucky45.300.47.313.0
South Carolina23.101.97.312.3
Vermont02.002.76.911.6
Texas73.81.21.15.411.4
Tennessee32.301.16.49.9
Utah8001.65.87.4
Hawaii9001.24.05.2

WINS (SCORED OUT OF 40)

STATEFIRST ZIP NO.POPULATIONPOWERBALL WINNERS SINCE 1992WINNERS/1,000,000 PEOPLEMEGA MILLIONS JACKPOT WINNERS SINCE 1996WINNERS/1,000,000 PEOPLELUCK SCORE
New Jersey09,288,994121.3262.821.6
District of Columbia2693,6451115.90020
New York120,201,249130.6442.216.4
Rhode Island01,097,37987.310.915.7
New Hampshire01,377,529118.010.715.3
Delaware1989,9481111.10014.0
Michigan410,077,33160.6181.813.5
Maryland26,177,22430.5111.813.3
Ohio411,799,44850.4211.813.3
South Dakota5886,66733.411.112.3
Georgia310,711,90870.7161.511.5
Virginia28,631,39320.2111.39.4
Illinois612,812,50820.2161.29.1
Indiana46,785,528395.710.18.3
California939,538,223170.4391.07.6
Kansas62,937,880124.110.37.6
Idaho81,839,10652.710.57.3
Missouri66,154,913325.2006.6
Nebraska61,961,504105.1006.4
West Virginia21,793,71695.0006.3
Minnesota55,706,494223.910.26.1
Kentucky44,505,836194.2005.3
Wisconsin55,893,718193.210.25.3
Maine01,362,35900.010.75.2
Montana51,084,22543.7004.7
Louisiana74,657,757173.6004.6
Arizona87,151,502142.020.34.5
Texas729,145,50530.1150.53.8
Arkansas73,011,52431.010.33.6
Iowa53,190,36992.8003.6
Connecticut03,605,94492.5003.1
South Carolina25,118,42571.410.23.1
Massachusetts07,029,91760.920.33.1
New Mexico82,117,52252.4003.0
Pennsylvania113,002,700201.510.12.5
Tennessee36,910,84071.010.12.3
Oregon94,237,25671.7002.1
Vermont0643,07711.6002.0
Florida321,538,187170.820.11.7
North Carolina210,439,38860.610.11.4
Oklahoma73,959,35341.0001.3
Washington97,705,28120.310.11.3
Colorado85,773,71430.5000.7
Alabama35,024,27900.0000
Alaska9733,39100.0000
Hawaii91,455,27100.0000
Mississippi32,961,27900.0000
Nevada83,104,61400.0000
North Dakota5779,09400.0000
Utah83,271,61600.0000
Wyoming8576,85100.0000

The first category within the study ranks each state based on wins – specifically the number of Powerball and Mega Millions jackpot winners have come from each place.

Leading the way is the overall second-luckiest place in New Jersey, with 1.3 Powerball winners per 1,000,000 people in the state since 1992 and 2.8 Mega Millions jackpot winners per million people since 1996.

There are eight states, meanwhile, to have had zero winners in either, with those being Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Mississippi, Nevada, North Dakota, Utah and Wyoming – though it is worth noting that some states within this collection do not run either lottery.

Without taking into account the number of people within the state, California has contributed the highest number of winners across both prizes with 56.

GAMING (SCORED OUT OF 30)

STATEFIRST ZIP NO.POPULATIONTOTAL CASINOSPEOPLE/CASINOLUCK SCORE
Nevada83,104,61423113,439.929.9
Oklahoma73,959,35314227,882.829.9
South Dakota5886,6673128,602.229.9
Montana51,084,2251667,764.129.7
New Mexico82,117,5222681,443.229.7
North Dakota5779,094897,386.829.6
Mississippi32,961,27929102,113.129.6
Iowa53,190,36923138,711.729.4
Colorado85,773,71433174,96129.3
Minnesota55,706,49432178,327.929.3
Idaho81,839,10610183,910.629.2
Louisiana74,657,75725186,310.329.2
Wyoming8576,8513192,283.729.2
Wisconsin55,893,71827218,285.929.1
Washington97,705,28133233,493.429.0
Alaska9733,3913244,463.729.0
Nebraska61,961,5048245,18829.0
Arizona87,151,50229246,603.529.0
Kansas62,937,88011267,08028.9
Delaware1989,9483329,982.728.6
West Virginia21,793,7165358,743.228.5
Michigan410,077,33127373,234.528.5
Oregon94,237,25611385,205.128.4
Missouri66,154,91313473,454.828.1
California939,538,22383476,364.128.0
Indiana46,785,52814484,680.628.0
Rhode Island01,097,3792548,689.527.7
New York120,201,24934594,154.427.6
Maine01,362,3592681,179.527.2
Illinois612,812,50817753,676.926.9
Pennsylvania113,002,70017764,864.726.9
Arkansas73,011,52431,003,841.325.9
Maryland26,177,22461,029,537.325.8
New Jersey09,288,99491,032,110.425.8
Ohio411,799,448111,072,677.125.6
Florida321,538,187161,346,136.724.5
Alabama35,024,27931,674,759.723.1
Virginia28,631,39351,726,278.622.9
Connecticut03,605,94421,802,97222.6
Massachusetts07,029,91732,343,305.720.4
North Carolina210,439,38833,479,79615.7
Texas729,145,50547,286,376.37.2
Kentucky44,505,836000
New Hampshire01,377,529000
District of Columbia2693,645000
Georgia310,711,908000
Hawaii91,455,271000
South Carolina25,118,425000
Tennessee36,910,840000
Utah83,271,616000
Vermont0643,077000

Unsurprisingly, Nevada leads the way in the category ranking each state based on the number of people per casino within each region.

There are 231 casinos in Nevada, which works out to 13,439.9 people per casino, while Oklahoma takes second place with 27.882.8 people per casino from a total of 142 within the state.

Kentucky, New Hampshire, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah and Vermont are the nine states with zero casinos.

ANOMALIES (SCORED OUT OF 20)

STATESTARTING ZIP NO.POPULATIONSQ MILES (LAND)WEATHER EVENTS CAUSING $1BN+ IN LOSSES (SINCE 1980)SQ M/EVENTWEATHER-RELATED INJURIES (10 YEARS)PEOPLE/INJURYWEATHER-RELATED DEATHS (10 YEARS)PEOPLE/DEATHLUCK SCORE
Connecticut03,605,9444,84245107.625144237.8144237.8277380.312.2
Massachusetts07,029,9177,80045173.37890127.190127.133475810.8
Alaska9733,391588,4008735501938599.538599.522918.58.7
Rhode Island01,097,3791,0343331.39121931121931156768.48.7
District of Columbia2693,64561001163058.663058.62312157.4
Michigan410,077,33156,53960942.316660706.860706.8138045.65.5
Delaware1989,9481,9493555.73033267.23267.22474874.9
Ohio411,799,44840,861105389.242227960.827960.8187292.84.9
New York120,201,24947,12695496.152338625.738625.71278564.2
Maryland26,177,2249,70785114.211951909.451909.496519.14.2
Virginia28,631,39339,490116340.427031968.131968.1134865.54.0
New Hampshire01,377,5298,95321426.3552504625046125229.93.5
Washington97,705,28166,45636184617843288.143288.157502.13.1
California939,538,223155,779463386.51,39328383.528383.572547.22.9
Pennsylvania113,002,70044,743114392.555723344.223344.296316.32.8
North Carolina210,439,38848,618121401.824842094.342094.352196.92.8
Illinois612,812,50855,519128433.740931326.431326.477183.82.8
Georgia310,711,90857,513134429.254319727.319727.3103999.12.8
Maine01,362,35930,843191623.36720333.720333.790823.92.7
Vermont0643,0779,21719485.11445934.145934.135726.52.7
Minnesota55,706,49479,627621284.320827435.127435.168752.92.6
Nebraska61,961,50476,8246611649720221.720221.772648.32.3
West Virginia21,793,71624,03847511.44738164.238164.2326132.3
Florida321,538,18753,62594570.5629342423424237852.72.2
New Jersey09,288,9947,3547598.188110543.710543.794785.72.2
Oregon94,237,25695,988412341.210839233.939233.915810.72.2
Indiana46,785,52835,826100358.330222468.622468.656546.12.0
South Carolina25,118,42530,061101297.625919762.319762.358832.51.9
Kansas62,937,88081,759102801.620814124.414124.457605.51.7
Utah83,271,61682,170253286.821515216.815216.840895.21.6
Iowa53,190,36955,85786649.53708622.68622.665109.61.5
North Dakota5779,09469,0012428756911291.211291.245829.11.5
Colorado85,773,714103,642761363.78276981.56981.553959.91.3
Arizona87,151,502113,59434334131322848.222848.23966.41.2
Idaho81,839,10682,643322582.613413724.713724.728293.91.2
Hawaii91,455,2716,42323211.57619148.319148.311458.81.2
New Mexico82,117,522121,298383192.12767672.27672.2352921.1
Tennessee36,910,84041,235116355.566910330.110330.141631.61.1
Wisconsin55,893,71854,15863859.743213642.913642.929616.71.1
Texas729,145,505261,2321901374.93,4188527.18527.137753.21.1
Nevada83,104,614109,78127406618616691.516691.55634.51.0
Louisiana74,657,75743,204106407.640411529.111529.128751.60.9
Montana51,084,225145,546373933.71189188.39188.315944.50.9
Alabama35,024,27950,645116436.65489168.49168.431401.70.9
Missouri66,154,91368,742120572.91,5803895.53895.537760.20.8
Arkansas73,011,52452,03597536.47993769.13769.134221.90.7
Wyoming8576,85197,093323034.21583651365116023.60.5
South Dakota5886,66775,811362105.91466073.16073.114074.10.5
Kentucky44,505,83639,48692429.29074967.84967.819849.50.4
Mississippi32,961,27946,923108434.590232833283178390.3
Oklahoma73,959,35368,595115596.51,0803666.13666.14303.60.1

Here, we are ranking states in reverse order based on how likely you would be to be caught in an anomalous or freak weather event, based on the size of the state and number of people within it.

Leading the way for least likely place where someone would suffer a weather anomaly and, as a result, most fortunate is Connecticut – there are nearly 300,000 people per weather-related death in the last 10 years in the state.

Other states performing well here include Massachusetts, Alaska and Rhode Island.

At the other end, places that suffer from more volatile conditions and see more damages, injuries and deaths per capita are Oklahoma, Mississippi and Kentucky.

SUPERSTITIONS (SCORED OUT OF 10)

STATESTARTING ZIP NO.LUCKY CHARMS TRENDS SCOREHOROSCOPES TREND SCOREWIN THE LOTTERY TRENDS SCORELUCK SCORE
Wyoming89659837.9
West Virginia283421007.5
Arizona86659947.3
Louisiana77153957.3
South Carolina27450957.3
Kentucky47948917.3
South Dakota510035777.1
Nebraska68748767.0
New Mexico86763807
Indiana48855667.0
New Jersey07658757.0
Oklahoma77145926.9
Ohio47950786.9
Vermont065100426.9
Arkansas76942946.8
Michigan47651786.8
New York16762756.8
Kansas67948766.8
Missouri67957676.8
Pennsylvania17657706.8
Delaware17352766.7
Maine06476606.7
Massachusetts06966656.7
Mississippi36741916.6
Alabama36948816.6
Idaho87046816.6
Rhode Island07656656.6
New Hampshire06266686.5
Connecticut07558626.5
North Carolina26944816.5
Virginia27444766.5
Montana56244876.4
Tennessee36545836.4
Wisconsin58047666.4
North Dakota57732836.4
Georgia36741836.4
Minnesota57756586.4
Illinois67055656.3
Iowa57744636.1
Florida35750766.1
Nevada86654616.0
Alaska97758456
California96647666.0
Oregon96345705.9
Colorado86252635.9
Utah88635535.8
Maryland26245655.7
Washington96550515.5
Texas76432655.4
District of Columbia24944554.9
Hawaii95736284.0

Here, we’re looking at the most superstitious places in the United States and ranking those who are trying to manifest their own luck. The ranking is based on Google Trends results for the following three search queries: ‘lucky charms’, ‘horoscopes’ and ‘win the lottery’.

Making up the top five in descending order are Wyoming, West Virginia, Arizona, Louisiana and South Carolina.

At the other end of the spectrum, Hawaii, District of Columbia and Texas don’t seem to have the same level of interest in manifestation or superstition.