Unlikely US state named best for UFO-spotters in new study – where does YOURS rank?

The vast plains of Montana are considered the place where the chance of a UFO is greatest, with half of the residents claiming to have seen a UFO at some point.

Half (exactly 50 percent) of residents in this western state — often referred to as “Big Sky Country” — also said they “believe in UFOs,” a new survey claims.

The findings will no doubt come as a surprise to residents of Nevada, home to the legendary secretive U.S. Air Force base and ufology mainstay Area 51: Their state didn’t even make the top 10 of the study, which combined sightings with other regional data.

Delaware came in second, with 80 percent of residents admitting to believing in UFOs, but no one reported actually seeing strange craft or strange lights in the sky.

Other top stats included the state of Massachusetts, as data collected from Google searches shows that the state of New England is the most UFO-obsessed state in America, with 13,750 monthly Google searches related to the topic (or 19.64 searches per 10,000 people). But New York and New Jersey weren’t far behind.

The Google search terms used in this analysis include “UFO sighting,” “Are UFOs real,” and “UFO video.”

The 37,260 monthly searches for UFOs in New York City were distributed at a rate of 19.04 per 10,000 residents, showing that this seemingly high number had to be adjusted for population density.

In New Jersey, 16,820 UFO searches were conducted, which equates to 18.1 per 10,000 residents, placing the state in third place.

Despite stereotypes of repeated cases of “alien abduction” in rural America, South Dakota, Arkansas, and Louisiana all ranked near the bottom of the list for search term interest in this phenomenon.

South Dakota ranked last in UFO interest, with only 850 monthly searches, or 9.25 per 10,000 residents.

The findings will no doubt come as a surprise to residents of Nevada, home to the legendary secret U.S. Air Force base and UFO kingpin Area 51: Their state didn’t even make the Top 10 in this new study. Above, an alien or an alien man (artist’s rendering)

Arkansas ranked second with 2,870 UFO searches on Google, or 9.36 per 10,000 people in the state; followed by Louisiana with 4,300 searches, or 9.4 per 10,000 residents.

Together one full According to survey data, a quarter of all Americans (25 percent) admitted to believing in UFOs.

The number was noticeably higher than the number of people who were actually willing to admit to having seen one: only 7 percent said they had personally seen a UFO, the study’s surveys found.

According to data from the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC), used in the new study, the total number of UFO sightings last year was 132,850.

The new study used a variety of metrics to determine which states have the highest UFO sightings for locals and visitors. These metrics include UFO sightings reported by NUFORC, light pollution data, and survey data from 2,057 people on topics related to UFO encounters in each U.S. state.

The project was sponsored by JackpotCity Casino for reasons that have not yet been fully disclosed.

But the adjustments based on light pollution, state population density, and survey data significantly changed the findings compared to NUFORC’s raw UFO sighting figures.

For example, California is said to have topped the list with a whopping 16,354 total UFO sightings reported to NUFORC.

But high light pollution (57.37) and the meager 7 percent of citizens who reported having personally seen a UFO depressed the Golden State’s final ranking.

Still, the skies above California remain a magnet for mysterious objects, with nearly a quarter, or about 24 percent, of residents “want to believe in UFOs.”