What States Are Home To The Most Professional Athletes?

With the playoffs approaching for the NBA and NHL, the season underway for MLB, and NFL Draft arriving on April 24, BetCarolina.com wanted to see which states have produced the most current professional athletes.

Your source for North Carolina sports betting promos used data from Baseball-Reference.com, Hockey-Reference.com, Basketball-Reference.com, and Pro-Football-Reference.com to tally up the total number of current professional athletes in each state.

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North Carolina Pro Athletes: How The State Ranks

When broken down by the sheer volume of top-tier athletes, few states match the quantity that the Tar Heel State has produced, especially compared to its population. The home of North Carolina sportsbooks is also the birthplace of 137 athletes in the traditional four major sports, the seventh-highest total nationwide.

Overall, the Tar Heel State ranked behind Illinois, which placed sixth nationally with 142 athletes, and ahead of Michigan (136 athletes), New York (122) and Pennsylvania (119). The leaders were California (436 athletes), Texas (343) and Florida (327), the same order they rank for population according to World Population Review figures.

Throw in Georgia (255) at No. 4 and the Buckeye State at No. 5, with 144 professional athletes hailing from Ohio, and you have the U.S. top 10 covered. That illustrates just how deep North Carolina’s connection with professional sports leagues goes.

That No. 7 ranking is even more impressive when you consider that the state offering legal, regulated North Carolina sports betting apps is ninth in population, at about 11.2 million. Yet North Carolina outpaces more populous states such as No. 4 New York and No. 5 Pennsylvania.

Whether it be an NBA star like Salisbury-born Zion Williamson of the New Orleans Pelicans, or Charlotte native and two-time World Series MVP Corey Seager of the Texas Rangers, there’s no denying that North Carolina has a fair share of top-notch pro athletes. The fact that the state finished high among the leaders nationally is further proof.

Check out our Carolina Panthers betting guide as fans get set for this month’s NFL Draft.

USA Today photo by Raymond Carlin III

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Author

Christopher Boan

Christopher Boan is a lead writer at BetCarolina.com specializing in covering state issues. He has covered sports and sports betting in Arizona for more than seven years, including stops at ArizonaSports.com, the Tucson Weekly and the Green Valley News.

Rank	State	Total Athletes
1	California	436
2	Texas	343
3	Florida	327
4	Georgia	255
5	Ohio	144
6	Illinois	142
7	North Carolina	137
8	Michigan	136
9	New York	122
10	Pennsylvania	119

What States Are Home To The Most Professional Athletes?

States With The Most Professional Athletes

North Carolina Pro Athletes: How The State Ranks