Hawaii is the most Pokémon-popular state per person; California, biggest by volume, ranks 35th

Hawaii is the most Pokémon-popular state in the country once you account for population, according to a new Poké Life index that combines Google searches, official tournaments, stores, and card shows for all 50 states and D.C. California, which has more Pokémon events and stores than any other state, ranks 35th.

The index scores each state per person, using Census Bureau 2025 population estimates, on four equally weighted pillars: search interest (Google Trends for the Pokémon, Pokémon TCG, and Pokémon GO topics and the search “pokemon cards”), organized play (13,234 Play! Pokémon League Cups, League Challenges, and Pre Releases listed from Sept. 1 through Nov. 30, 2026), stores (tournament venues, card shops, and Census-counted hobby, toy, and game stores), and card shows. Hawaii ranked first and Wisconsin second, followed by New Hampshire, Oregon, and West Virginia. In 5,000 simulations that add random noise to every count, Hawaii finished first 82% of the time and Wisconsin 15%.

Hawaii’s lead starts with search. It scored 100, the national high, on all four Google Trends measures over the past 12 months, and it also led both measures we re-checked over five years. That isn’t a general quirk: Hawaii ranks 51st for “video games” but first for the One Piece Card Game and third for anime, a pattern that points to Japanese franchises broadly. It is also in a near tie with Wisconsin and Oregon for the most League Cups and Challenges per person, at 4.75 per 100,000 against a national 2.61. Its weakest pillar is stores, where it ranks 28th.

Wisconsin is the most consistent state in the data. It ranks first for organized play overall, with among the most Pre Releases and League Cups and Challenges per person (2.48 and 4.64 per 100,000), and seventh on stores. It was the only state to finish in the top three under all 17 versions of the index we tested, which changed the scoring math, dropped each pillar in turn, and swapped in different event windows. Hawaii was first in 14 of the 17; it drops when search is left out or card shows count for less.

The biggest states sit much lower. California had 1,356 Play! Pokémon events in the window, the most of any state, and ranks third for Google search interest. But its 2.33 League Cups and Challenges per 100,000 residents and 7.5 tournament venues per million are both below the national rates (2.61 and 8.4). Texas ranks 36th, Florida 42nd, and New York 46th.

By Census region, the Midwest had the highest average score (59.9), followed by the West (58.0), the Northeast (48.3), and the South (37.8). Georgia ranks 50th, ahead of only D.C., even though Atlanta hosts a Pokémon Regional Championship in January.

No company publishes Pokémon sales by state, so the index measures attention and activity, not spending. The tournament window covers the season’s first three months and part of the window is heavy with Pre Releases for the next set. Card show listings come from promoter-submitted directories that only partly agree with each other. Store counts per person favor smaller, spread-out states, Google counts searches by visitors as well as residents, and ranks from about fifth to 20th overlap heavily.

Pokémon popularity by state, per person

Toggle the overall index or one of its four pillars. Darker = higher score, in five equal steps from the lowest state to the highest. Hover or tap a state for its ranks.

OverallSearchPlayStoresShows

Hawaii ranks #1 overall with a score of 85.5

Hawaii leads search (100.0)

Wisconsin leads organized play (99.0)

Alaska leads stores (92.0)

Hawaii leads card shows (98.0)

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Poké Life · poke-life.comData as of Oct 19, 2026; ranks of 50 states + D.C.

The full 51-state ranking, every pillar, and the method are in our research article, Which state loves Pokémon most?. For tournament counts alone, see Where Pokémon TCG is biggest in the US.