Sports, Screens, and Sleds: Each State’s Favorite Hobby
What do you do for fun? Across the country, Americans enjoy a range of diverse hobbies, from watching (and playing) sports to quieter activities like reading a book or turning on the tv.
In honor of National Hobby Month, we set out to find the most uniquely enjoyed hobby in each state. Using Google Trends data, we analyzed hundreds of hobbies across sports, fitness, outdoor recreation, gaming, crafting, and digital entertainment to see which activities each state shows disproportionately high interest in.
The result? Where you live can heavily influence how you spend your time. Keep reading to see if your state is full of couch potatoes or playing an obscure sport.
Key Findings
- Unsurprisingly, football is Alabama’s favorite pastime. While the state has no NFL team, college football reigns king.
- 22 states have sports hobbies, with another 14 enjoying outdoor rec activities.
- Geography shapes favorite hobbies. For example, Alaska’s love of dog sledding, Montana’s passion for fly fishing, and Wyoming’s interest in national parks.
- Screens still sneak in: Not every state’s “favorite” is athletic—Indiana’s fondness for sitcoms is an example.
- New York ’s favorite hobby is tailgating, which is a shorter way of saying drinking beers and eating snacks in a parking lot before the game.
- Delaware stands out for interest in mermaid swimming, which is swimming with a fake fin like a mermaid.
- West Virginia loves fishing, but not the kind where you cook your catch. West Virginians prefer magnet fishing and uncovering metal treasures.
Biggest Sports & Their Most Enthusiastic States
Here are some of the country’s most popular sports and their biggest state fans:
| Sport | Favorite State |
|---|---|
| Football | Alabama |
| Baseball | Mississippi |
| Basketball | Kentucky |
| Hockey | Minnesota |
| Soccer | New Jersey |
Missouri’s favorite hobby wasn’t a specific sport but rather sports betting itself—it doesn’t come as a surprise when you realize that Missouri sports betting launched in December 2025 and significantly sparked interest now that the state has legal books.
If you’re in a state without legal sports betting but want to feel part of the action, consider signing up for the Underdog promo code to try fantasy sports contests.
Now’s a Great Time to Try a New Hobby
From football fields to mountain trails to parking lots before kickoff, Americans find joy in remarkably different ways. These differences often come down to geography, culture, and a little bit of local weirdness.
Whether you’re surfing in Hawaii, curling in North Dakota, tailgating in New York, or magnet fishing in West Virginia, the way you spend your free time says as much about where you live as who you are.
And if nothing else, National Hobby Month is a good reminder that no matter your state’s favorite, there’s always room to try something new—even if it involves a fake mermaid tail.
Methodology
Using Google Trends, we determined which hobby each state (excluding Virginia) is proportionally interested in. We examined 601 hobby-related keywords covering sports, fitness, outdoor activities, gaming, crafts, and screen-based entertainment.
Each term was analyzed independently to avoid overlap or aggregation bias. The past 12 months of trending interest was taken into consideration. Only the top-ranked state for each keyword was recorded.
A hobby was considered a state’s “favorite” if that state had disproportionate interest and searched it more uniquely than the rest of the country.
For example, football is of high interest in most states. However, in Alabama it had the highest interest, making it Alabama’s “favorite” hobby.
Similarly, while football is more popular than cornhole in New Hampshire, cornhole is the activity where New Hampshire has the #1 search interest—higher than other states. This disproportionate interest makes cornhole New Hampshire’s “favorite” hobby.
You can see the full dataset (and excluded hobbies) here
Each State’s Favorite Hobby
| State | Favorite Hobby |
|---|---|
| Alabama | Football |
| Alaska | Dog sledding |
| Arizona | River tubing |
| Arkansas | Diving board |
| California | Water polo |
| Colorado | Rock climbing |
| Connecticut | Fencing |
| Delaware | Mermaid swimming |
| Florida | Table tennis |
| Georgia | Car repair |
| Hawaii | Surfing |
| Idaho | Overlanding |
| Illinois | Park workouts |
| Indiana | Sitcoms |
| Iowa | Wrestling |
| Kansas | Furniture flipping |
| Kentucky | Horse racing |
| Louisiana | ATV riding |
| Maine | Disc golf |
| Maryland | Kung fu |
| Massachusetts | Rowing |
| Michigan | Wall painting |
| Minnesota | Hockey |
| Mississippi | Baseball |
| Missouri | Sports betting |
| Montana | Fly fishing |
| Nebraska | Volleyball |
| Nevada | Poker |
| New Hampshire | Cornhole |
| New Jersey | Soccer |
| New Mexico | Calligraphy |
| New York | Tailgating |
| North Carolina | Home improvement |
| North Dakota | Curling |
| Ohio | Sports games |
| Oklahoma | Softball |
| Oregon | Skateboarding |
| Pennsylvania | Drums |
| Rhode Island | Sailing |
| South Carolina | League organizing |
| South Dakota | Sports cards |
| Tennessee | Songwriting |
| Texas | Cricket |
| Utah | Pickleball |
| Vermont | Skiing |
| Washington | Storm spotting |
| West Virginia | Magnet fishing |
| Wisconsin | Lacrosse |
| Wyoming | National parks |