The State with the Most UFO Sightings: Unveiling America's Alien Obsession

The mere thought of extraterrestrial beings visiting Earth has captivated human beings for decades. From glowing orbs in the night sky to mysterious aircraft sightings that defy human understanding, these UFO sightings have fueled countless debates about the existence of life beyond our planet.

If you're in the mood to go UFO hunting or if you just want to have an extraterrestrial experience, there are states you can visit where the most UFO sightings have been claimed. Data gathered since 1995 has revealed which states have reported the most UFO sightings since records began.

The research, gathered by the National UFO Reporting Center, showed that between all 50 states, Americans have reported 133,717 UFO sightings since 1995. In results mapped by Newsweek, the distribution of these sightings highlighted Western states as the most common areas to see UFOs, especially once the results were weighted for population size.

While New Mexico and Nevada are perhaps best known for UFO sightings, the National UFO Reporting Center data shows that the state with the most sightings is California, with more than 16,500 reports as of April 25, 2025.

Casino.ca found one UFO per 1,075 people, naming the Golden State the top place where people have claimed to "see" a UFO, with 36,286 reported sightings since 1974. California’s sightings are 409% more than the state of Washington.

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A data scientist with Casino.ca says the high number of reported UFO sightings in California may be related to a few reasons. "For example, the vastness and diversity of the state's landscapes, which range from expansive deserts to coastal regions - offer numerous locations where unusual flying objects can be sighted," said the data scientist.

A recent NUFORC report lists an alleged sighting, with the person saying, "There were no clouds in sky and no wind. I saw a cloud-shape circle moving quickly in the sky, not too high up."

Below, see the top five states where people have claimed to spot a UFO.

Top 5 States for UFO Sightings

1. California: Casino.ca found one UFO per 1,075 people, naming the Golden State the top place where people have claimed to "see" a UFO, with 36,286 reported sightings since 1974.
2. Washington: Reported in second place, there is one UFO per 1,093 people, finding about 7,125 UFO "sightings" in Washington. An alleged sighting took place on Oct. 6, with the witness sharing, "I was walking out the front door, taking my dog out when I saw a very shiny object high in the sky." However, the NUFORC concluded that the claimed sighting was in fact a balloon.
3. Florida: In the Sunshine State, there were more than 11,000 UFO sighting claims since 1974. Casino.ca found one UFO for every 1,444 Floridians. A report entered in NUFORC, out of Destin, Florida, said that a witness looked into the sky and "saw this huge slightly bright orange arrow moving across sky then saw it again though further away going the other way."
4. Oregon: A total number of 3,667 alleged UFO sightings have been reported since 1974, with one occurring for every 1,156 people. Witnesses reported to the NUFORC sightings of a "fast-moving tic-tac looking thing crossing the sky" and a "translucent orb in sky with curl or bright lights on top and bottom, panels seen inside."
5. New York: The Empire State came in fifth place with a total of a total of 6,405 claims of sightings.

Adjusting the results for the population in each state revealed that UFOs were much more likely to be seen in Western states. Newsweek compared the UFO records with census data of each state's population, producing results that showed each state's UFO sightings per 1 million people.

Washington and Vermont had the highest number of reported UFO sightings in proportion to their population, with both states having almost a thousand sightings per million people.

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The states surrounding Nevada, the home of Area 51, all reported high numbers of UFO sightings, with Arizona, New Mexico and Wyoming showing over 700 sightings per million residents.

Additionally, the Northeastern tip of New England, consisting of New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine, reported very high sightings considering their small populations. All three states recorded close to 900 sightings per million people living there.

This area is sometimes called "Lovecraft Country", as it is frequently the setting of the supernatural horror stories written by H.P. Lovecraft, which often deal with contact from cosmic entities.

Professor Avi Loeb, a Harvard University professor of astronomy, told Newsweek that the greater cluster of reported sightings in the West could be due to nearby military/astronomical infrastructure, saying: "These states host strategic sites and military facilities that could promote a clutter of sightings. government officials."

When adjusted for its large population, Texas emerged as the state with the fewest viewings, with just 215 sightings per million. This is in stark contrast to its neighboring state, New Mexico, which had one of the highest chances of reporting a UFO (801 sightings per million residents).

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The lowest proportion of reported UFO sightings was in the South, with Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi combined reporting fewer sightings than Montana.

According to the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies, 6,000 UFO encounters are reported every year, though around 98 percent of them are misinterpretations of airplanes or other man-made equipment such as Chinese lanterns.

Loeb also attributed misinterpretations to interference from other countries, saying: "The concentration of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAPs) near nuclear or military assets is a natural byproduct of espionage. to national security threats explains why the Department of Defense would suppress disclosure of related details. Any public admission about the unknown terrestrial origin of UAPs would serve the military interests of adversarial nations who produced them."

There have been 1,177 UFO sightings reported to the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC) so far this year, 353 of them in March, according to a recent announcement. The UFO Center's announcement also included three notable "sightings" last week in Portugal, Alaska and Washington.

In one of reports, a woman from Sitka, Alaska, said she heard a strange "ping" sound in her home last Wednesday and claimed her 4-year-old son witnessed a disc-shaped craft outside their home. The report came with a drawing made by her son of the alleged craft.

Here are some examples of reported UFO sightings:

• "It was green and looked like a flame was coming out of the back end of it."
• "There were two round lights, one green, one red. Then both lights became green, 5 seconds later they both became red. The lights were below the cloud cover at approximately 1000 ft. The lights were stationary in the night sky." The witness added a traveling companion pulled the vehicle off the road to further observe the sighting, but then "the lights streaked north at an incredible rate of speed, dove 90 degrees and streaked north again out of sight."
• "The speed of this object was far greater than any aircraft/satellite and could not be seen by naked eye, only through telescope."
• "It doesn't appear to be moving (like a plane), but is in a different position every night."
• "After about 30 sec it made a swoop back the way it came."

The lore of UFOs is also currently experiencing a resurgence as many Americans grow concerned about national security. The infamous Chinese spy balloon panic in 2023 and fears over being infiltrated by the Russian government have led to many reporting seeing UFOs in the sky. People are also mistaking the spike in Starlink satellites for extraterrestrial activity. In November 2024, the Pentagon announced that most reported sightings of unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs, as they're now known) can be attributed to balloons, drones, and other regular objects, while still noting that many objects lack a sufficient explanation.

Those who believe they've seen something otherworldly can report it to the National UFO Reporting Center, which relies on volunteers to separate fact from fiction. The National UFO Reporting Center said it makes no claims as to the validity of the information in any of these reports.

In the late 1940s, the US Air Force started using the phrase “unidentified flying object” to describe any type of mysterious aircraft. A UFO is anything in the sky that can’t be identified.

In 2019, a Gallup survey found that 33% of Americans believed some UFOs were alien spacecrafts, while 60% felt they could all be explained by human activity or some natural phenomenon. Just two years later, in 2021, 41% of respondents said they believed at least some UFOs were alien-related compared to 50% who were confident any sightings could be explained by human behavior or scientific events.

There are two main reasons that belief in aliens has become so prevalent in the United States: government hearings and pop culture. America's film industry has always been one of the most influential in the world, and a wave of science fiction films in the 1950s, like "The Day the Earth Stood Still" and "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," perpetuated the idea that there are other life-forms out there.

Just like it did in the 1950s amid Cold War paranoia, the lore of UFOs is also currently experiencing a resurgence as many Americans grow concerned about national security.

In November 2024, the Pentagon announced that most reported sightings of unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs, as they're now known) can be attributed to balloons, drones, and other regular objects, while still noting that many objects lack a sufficient explanation.

The Department of Defense launched a reporting site in 2023 to make government activity concerning UFOs publicly available.

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