The List Of States That Are The Most Interested In Country Music Is Exactly What You’d Imagine It To Be

The United States of America might not exactly be united in their interest in country music.

You’ve likely heard the phrase “to each their own,” right? Everyone has the right to do what they want to and like what they want to, and in a perfect world, everyone is cool about it. That being said, sometimes we get in our own little worlds and don’t realize that there are other things going on outside of our bubble.

So if I said that not every state is interested in country music, would you be surprised? If you’ve done your fair share of traveling, then you’ve seen with your own eyes that interests change from state to state (even city to city within the same state).

Perhaps you live in a place where country music is king? Then you travel to, let’s say, New York City and realize that not as many people are firing up the latest country hits. Is there anything wrong with that? Nope, not all… it all just boils down to different strokes for different folks.

On the flip side, if you are a country music fan and you’ve traveled to a place that is proudly playing an old classic from Waylon, or a new hit from Luke Combs, you’re able to realize that there are different places across America that listen to the same kind of music. And if you were ever looking for a state-by-state guide of which states have interest in country music and which do not, you’ve come to the right place.

Based upon Google Trends, here’s the list of states that are interested in country music (from greatest interest to least interest):

1) Tennessee

2) Kentucky

3) South Carolina

4) West Virginia

5) South Dakota

6) Montana

7) Wyoming

8) Alabama

9) North Dakota

10) North Carolina

11) Arkansas

12) Mississippi

13) Vermont

14) Nebraska

15) Ohio

16) Iowa

17) Indiana

18) Wisconsin

19) Maine

20) Missouri

21) Pennsylvania

22) Delaware

23) Oklahoma

24) Idaho

25) Kansas

26) Louisiana

27) Minnesota

28) Texas

29) New Mexico

30) New Hampshire

31) Arizona

32) Virginia

33) Michigan

34) Georgia

35) Colorado

36) Florida

37) Oregon

38) New Jersey

39) Alaska

40) Utah

41) Illinois

42) Washington

43) Maryland

44) Rhode Island

45) Nevada

46) Massachusetts

47) California

48) New York

49) Connecticut

50) Hawaii

Obviously, a couple of states high on the list that don’t surprise you at all are Tennessee at No. 1 and Kentucky at No. 2. That certainly seems to be the heartland for the country genre. Some states on the list that were a bit shocking in terms of where they fell in the order? Florida came in at number 36, and if you would have asked me beforehand, I may have expected to see them in the top 10 or 15. Same thing for Texas, which ranked 28th on the list in country music interest.

But for the most part, the order makes sense – the more rural the state, the more likely they are to like country music (with a couple of exceptions). The good news for the states that are most interested in country? They are probably the happiest people in the country too, according to a study from 2024.

Tebra conducted a study that looked into the best types of music for positive mental health found that those who listen to country music tend to be happier. Of all the people that were surveyed, it was discovered that those who enjoyed and preferred the country genre also reported the best mental health levels:

“As for genres, people who listened to country and reggae reported the best mental health, with 52% of each music fandom indicating strong well-being. In contrast, listeners of indie/alternative and heavy metal reported the worst mental health, with 30% and 28%, respectively, saying their mental health was poor.”

Correlation doesn’t always means causation… but I’m comfortably putting my hypothesis out there that if you live in a state that’s more interested in country music, you are probably leading a happier life than those that don’t care for the genre.

Pat yourself on the back and go celebrate by cueing up your favorite country artist.The post The List Of States That Are The Most Interested In Country Music Is Exactly What You’d Imagine It To Be first appeared on Whiskey Riff.