The One Thing Every State Is More Famous For Than Anything Else (That Actually Surprises People)

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Every state has the obvious thing. Texas is big. California has Hollywood. Florida has beaches. Alaska is cold.

But dig one layer deeper and you find the facts that make people stop mid-conversation and say “wait — seriously?”

These are the claims to fame that travel writers don’t put on postcards but that every local knows — and every visitor remembers.

The Northeast: Small States, Outsized Claims

• Maine

  — Produces 99% of all commercially harvested blueberries in the United States. Also technically the closest U.S. state to Africa. Also has a town called Mexico, a town called China, and a town called Peru.

• Vermont

  — The only state with no natural lakes that border another state or country — all its significant lakes are entirely within Vermont. Also has more cows than people in many counties.

• New Hampshire

  — The first state to declare independence from Britain, doing so six months before the Declaration of Independence. The state motto is “Live Free or Die,” which is literally on license plates made by prisoners.

• Massachusetts

  — Invented basketball (Springfield, 1891), the telephone (Boston, 1876), and the first public library in the United States (Boston, 1854). Also home to America’s oldest restaurant still in operation: Ye Olde Union Oyster House, open since 1826.

• Rhode Island

  — The smallest state has the longest official name: “State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.” Also has more historic sites per square mile than any other state.

• Connecticut

  — The first state to issue automobile licenses (1897). Also the submarine capital of America — Electric Boat in Groton builds nuclear submarines and has since World War II.

• New York

  — The Adirondack Park is larger than Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Glacier, and Olympic National Parks combined. Most New Yorkers have no idea this exists.

• New Jersey

  — Has more diners per capita than any other state on earth. Also where both Thomas Edison invented the lightbulb and where the first baseball game was officially played (Hoboken, 1846).

• Pennsylvania

  — America’s chocolate capital. Hershey, PA produces so much chocolate that the streetlights are shaped like Hershey’s Kisses and the air reportedly smells like cocoa on production days.

• Delaware

  — More corporations are registered in Delaware than there are people living there. Over 60% of Fortune 500 companies are incorporated here due to favorable corporate law.

• Maryland

  — Birthplace of the U.S. Naval Academy (Annapolis) and produces about 50% of all blue crabs consumed in the U.S. Also the state where the National Anthem was written.

The South: Where History Runs Deep and Weird

• Virginia

  — Has produced more U.S. presidents than any other state — eight in total, including four of the first five. Also where the first permanent English settlement in America was established (Jamestown, 1607).

• North Carolina

  — First in flight. The Wright Brothers flew at Kitty Hawk on December 17, 1903. North Carolina license plates say “First in Flight” about it. Ohio plates say “Birthplace of Aviation” because Dayton is where the brothers lived. This argument has never been resolved.

• South Carolina

  — Home to the oldest landscaped gardens in America — Middleton Place, outside Charleston, planted in 1741. Also where the first shots of the Civil War were fired (Fort Sumter).

• Georgia

  — The world’s busiest airport (Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International) has been #1 for over 20 consecutive years. Georgia also grows more peanuts than any other state and invented Coca-Cola (Atlanta, 1886).

• Florida

  — Has more lightning strikes per year than any other state. The “Lightning Capital of the U.S.” is actually the Tampa Bay corridor. Also has more golf courses per capita than any other state.

• Alabama

  — Rocket City. Huntsville’s NASA Marshall Space Flight Center developed the Saturn V rocket that took humans to the moon. The U.S. Space and Rocket Center there has the largest space hardware collection on earth.

• Mississippi

  — Birthplace of the blues, Coca-Cola (the bottling franchise was invented here, not the drink), and Jim Henson (creator of the Muppets). Also the poorest and simultaneously one of the most musically influential states in American history.

• Louisiana

  — New Orleans has never had a majority English-speaking period in its history. The city was French, then Spanish, then French again before the Louisiana Purchase. Voodoo is a legally recognized religion. And the city is sinking at a rate of about 1 inch per year.

• Tennessee

  — Nashville produces more music publishing revenue than any city on earth, not just country music. Memphis gave the world both blues music (Beale Street) and rock and roll (Sun Studio, Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash).

• Kentucky

  — Produces 95% of the world’s bourbon. Has more miles of navigable waterways than any state except Alaska. And Mammoth Cave is the world’s longest known cave system at over 400 miles mapped.

• Arkansas

  — The only state where diamonds are found in their natural setting and the public can mine them. Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro lets you keep what you find. A retiree found a 9-carat diamond there in 2015.

• West Virginia

  — The only state to form by seceding from a Confederate state (Virginia) during the Civil War. Also has the world’s largest cast-iron bridge and more covered bridges than any state per capita.

The Midwest: The States That Invented America

• Ohio

  — Has produced more U.S. presidents than any state except Virginia (8 total). Also the birthplace of more astronauts than any other state, including Neil Armstrong and John Glenn. And aviation (the Wright Brothers were from Dayton).

• Indiana

  — Santa Claus, Indiana is a real town and receives hundreds of thousands of letters addressed to Santa every December. It has a theme park called Holiday World. The town takes its responsibility seriously.

• Illinois

  — Chicago invented the skyscraper (Home Insurance Building, 1884), the zipper, deep dish pizza, and the Chicago manual of style used by writers worldwide. Also home to the world’s first nuclear reactor (University of Chicago, 1942).

• Michigan

  — Has more freshwater coastline than any other state. Surrounded by four of the five Great Lakes. Also invented the automobile industry, the assembly line, and — less proudly — the concept of planned obsolescence in consumer goods.

• Wisconsin

  — Makes more cheese than any other state (over 3 billion pounds per year). Also leads the nation in paper production, and Kohler, WI is the toilet capital of America.

• Minnesota

  — Has more shoreline than California, Florida, and Hawaii combined due to its 10,000+ lakes. Also invented the Post-it Note (3M headquarters in Maplewood), the stapler, and Wheaties cereal.

• Iowa

  — Produces more corn than any other state and more pork than any other state. Also the first state to hold presidential caucuses, giving it outsized political influence for a state most Americans can’t find on a map.

• Missouri

  — The Gateway Arch is the tallest man-made monument in the Western Hemisphere. Missouri is the starting point of both the Oregon and Santa Fe Trails — more westward pioneer journeys began here than anywhere else.

• Kansas

  — Geographic center of the contiguous United States (Lebanon, KS). Also leads the nation in wheat production and helium production — most of the world’s helium supply comes from Kansas.

• Nebraska

  — Has more miles of river than any other state. The Sandhills region is one of the largest grass-stabilized dune formations on earth. Also the birthplace of Kool-Aid (Hastings, 1927).

• South Dakota

  — Mount Rushmore is technically incomplete — the original plan included busts of the presidents from head to waist. The project ran out of funding in 1941. Also home to the world’s largest drug store (Wall Drug) and the world’s largest known T. rex fossil.

• North Dakota

  — Has more wildlife refuges per capita than any other state. The Bakken Formation makes it one of the top oil-producing states. Also statistically the least-visited state in the country — which means Medora and the Badlands are genuinely uncrowded.

The Mountain West: Records, Records, Records

• Montana

  — More land per person than any other state except Alaska. Has three times more cattle than people. And Glacier National Park had 150 glaciers in 1910 — it has 26 remaining today.

• Wyoming

  — Least populated state in the country (fewer than 600,000 people). First state to grant women the right to vote (1869) and the first to elect a female governor. Yellowstone sits on a supervolcano.

• Colorado

  — Has 53 peaks above 14,000 feet (“fourteeners”) — more than any other state. Denver is actually not in the mountains; it sits on the plains. The “Mile High City” marker in the state capitol steps is at exactly 5,280 feet.

• Utah

  — Has the greatest snow on earth (the marketing claim is backed up by low-humidity powder that many skiers consider the world’s best). Also has five national parks within a 4-hour drive of each other — the Mighty Five.

• Idaho

  — The only state to have a city named after a president before that president was president: Lincoln City was named in 1867. Also produces one-third of all U.S. potatoes and the Snake River Canyon is wider than the Grand Canyon in some sections.

• Nevada

  — More mountain ranges than any other state in the lower 48 (over 300). Also the driest state and the fastest-growing state by population. Area 51 is real, located near Rachel, NV.

• Arizona

  — The Grand Canyon took 6 million years to form and is still deepening. Saguaro cacti, the iconic tall ones with arms, only grow in the Sonoran Desert — mostly in Arizona. They don’t grow their first arm until they’re 75 years old.

• New Mexico

  — More PhDs per capita than any other state. Also leads the nation in chile pepper production and has the highest average elevation of any state. Aliens allegedly crashed in Roswell in 1947 (maybe).

The Pacific States: Where the Future Keeps Happening First

• California

  — If California were a country, it would be the fifth-largest economy on earth. Produces over a third of all U.S. vegetables and nearly all of the country’s almonds, artichokes, and olives. Has both the lowest point (Death Valley) and the tallest trees (Redwood National Park) in North America.

• Oregon

  — It is illegal to pump your own gas in Oregon — attendants do it for you, and Oregonians are genuinely territorial about this law. Also has Crater Lake, the deepest lake in the U.S. at 1,943 feet.

• Washington

  — Birthplace of Amazon, Microsoft, Starbucks, Boeing, and Costco — perhaps the most economically influential single state for the modern consumer economy. Also leads the country in apple and wine production.

• Alaska

  — Larger than Texas, California, and Montana combined. Has more coastline than all other U.S. states combined. On a clear day, you can see Russia from Little Diomede Island.

• Hawaii

  — The only state that grows coffee commercially. Also the only state not located on the North American continent, the only state that grows cacao beans, and the only state where it is illegal to own a snake.

The Great Plains: The States That Feed the World

• Texas

  — Produces more beef, cotton, wool, goats, and pecans than any other state. Has its own power grid (ERCOT) independent from the rest of the U.S. Also contains more species of birds than any other state — over 650 recorded.

• Oklahoma

  — Has more man-made lakes than any other state — over 200. The state actually invented the shopping cart (Sylvan Goldman, Oklahoma City, 1937). Also one of the most tornado-prone places on earth.

How to Use State Pride to Plan a Better Trip

Knowing a state’s real claim to fame changes how you travel through it.

• Before every road trip, research the two or three things your route states are genuinely world-famous for — not just what’s in the tourism brochure
• Crater of Diamonds in Arkansas, Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, the Sandhills in Nebraska — these are world-class experiences that almost no one outside the state knows about
• State pride is your best local connection tool. Ask a local “what’s the one thing I have to do here that tourists don’t know about?” and the answer will always be better than anything on TripAdvisor
• Many state records and claim-to-fame sites are free or nearly free — Crater Lake, the Badlands, the Great Plains — America’s most impressive geography charges the least admission

Every state thinks it’s special. Turns out, they’re all right.