What We Found
Most Americans don’t have to go far to find their ideal vacation spot
For all the states we had data from, nearly half of people (18 out of 40) picked a vacation spot within their own state. People in another eight states voted for cities in a neighboring state — for example, Boston was the #1 choice among voters not just in Massachusetts, but in New Hampshire and Rhode Island, as well. For many people, the ideal vacation isn’t far beyond their own backyards.
Connecticut and Virginia are the biggest exceptions to the rule
Connecticut is around 3,000 miles from Portland, OR. That’s the longest distance between any state on the map and the chosen vacation city for voters from there. Virginia comes close, as its citizens would have to travel around 2,500 miles to get to Las Vegas.
Chicago is the first choice of five
Chicago is the favorite of people in more states than any city on the list, beloved by residents of Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, and its home state of Illinois. All these states, save for Kentucky, share a border with Illinois. The second-place winner, New York City, is beloved by people in plenty of states that aren’t so close to it, including Iowa, North Carolina, and Oklahoma.
LA is left out, Philly forgotten
Some notable cities missing from the above map include Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Baltimore. LA is #3 among Californians and Philly is #3 among Pennsylvanians — that makes sense, because both states are large and feature multiple tourist destinations. But Baltimore was scorned by Marylanders, who have the city as their #12 spot behind DC, San Diego, Seattle, Portland, and Charleston.
