Where Pokémon TCG is biggest in the US: volume, per capita, and search

Neither The Pokémon Company nor major marketplaces publish Pokémon TCG sales by US state. What they do publish — and what shops put on the Play! Pokémon calendar — is enough to answer a sharper question: where is organized play busiest, where is it densest per person, and where do people search?

We counted every upcoming US League Cup, League Challenge, and Pre Release from 2026-10-15 through 2026-11-30 (via pokedata.ovh), ranked states by volume and per capita, mapped the results, and lined them up against Google Trends and local card-shop directories.

California has the most events. Wisconsin has the most per person — about twice the national rate. Those two rankings rarely agree, which is the story.

Key takeaways

• Volume: California leads with 764 upcoming events (10% of the US total), ahead of Texas (644) and Florida (485).
• Per capita: Wisconsin leads at 4.4 events per 100,000 residents — about 2.0× the national rate (2.2). Oregon is second at 4.0.
• Search: Google Trends for “Pokemon TCG” (rolling past 12 months, as of Oct 15, 2026) peaks in Wyoming, then Hawaii and California — not the same map as tournament density.
• Money context (national only): Pokémon was a $2.5 billion US toy property in 2025 (Circana). eBay saw $837 million in TCG/non-sport singles in 2025. State sales are not published.
• Local retail proxy: 4,176 US card shops in the CardsNearby directory; about 33% carry Pokémon. Our calendar shows 286 distinct venues with listed TCG events in California alone.

Pokémon TCG by US state

Toggle volume, events per person, event venues per million, and Google search interest. Darker teal = higher. Hover or tap a state for its numbers.

By volumePer capitaVenues / MSearch interest

California has the most upcoming events (764)

Wisconsin is densest at 4.4 events per 100,000 people

Oregon has the most event venues per million people (15.2)

Wyoming leads Google Trends for “Pokemon TCG” (index 100)

Fewer eventsLower densityFewer venuesLess searchMore eventsHigher densityMore venuesMore search

Poké Life · poke-life.comEvents as of Oct 15, 2026; Trends past 12 months

Biggest by volume#

Raw counts follow population and retail footprint. California’s 764 listings alone outnumber Wisconsin and Oregon combined. Use this ranking when the question is “where are the most tournaments on the board?”

Biggest per capita#

Divide by Census population and the Midwest and Northwest jump. Wisconsin’s 261 events work out to 4.4 per 100,000 people — the clearest “dense local scene” signal in the data. Oregon is close behind. Tiny states can spike on thin samples; North Dakota and Wyoming sit high with under 30 events each.

Upcoming Pokémon TCG events by state

League Cups, League Challenges, and Pre Releases listed for 10/15–11/30 (US), from the Play! Pokémon calendar via pokedata.ovh. Per-person rates use Census July 2024 population estimates.

Wisconsin hosts 4.4 events per 100,000 people — about 2.0× the national rate (2.2)California leads the raw count with 764 events

Per 100,000 residents

1. 1Wisconsin4.4261 events
2. 2Oregon4.0172 events
3. 3North Dakota3.629 events
4. 4Hawaii3.652 events
5. 5New Hampshire3.448 events
6. 6Indiana3.3230 events
7. 7Iowa3.3107 events
8. 8Wyoming3.219 events
9. 9Utah3.1110 events
10. 10Washington3.0242 events

Total events

1. 1California7641.9 / 100k
2. 2Texas6442.1 / 100k
3. 3Florida4852.1 / 100k
4. 4New York3731.9 / 100k
5. 5Pennsylvania3422.6 / 100k
6. 6Ohio3042.6 / 100k
7. 7Michigan2842.8 / 100k
8. 8Illinois2722.1 / 100k
9. 9Wisconsin2614.4 / 100k
10. 10Washington2423.0 / 100k

Poké Life · poke-life.comEvent calendar as of Oct 15, 2026

Strip out Pre Releases and keep League Cups and Challenges only, and Wyoming leads that cut at 2.5 per 100k — but Wisconsin and Oregon stay near the top with much larger samples (116 and 81 league events).

Money and market proxies by state#

Official state-level Pokémon sales are not public. These are the closest honest proxies we can put next to the tournament map — useful for local stories, not as a substitute for a Circana state P&L.

National dollars (no state breakout)

• $2.5 billion — Pokémon as a US toy property in 2025, including cards (Circana, as cited in 2026 industry coverage).
• $837 million — eBay spend on trading-card / non-sport singles in 2025 (GemRate via Yahoo Sports). Charizard and Pikachu alone account for more than $147 million.

We do not allocate those dollars to states. Search-volume studies that do (DuelBits, EsportsGG, and others) are keyword-planner exercises; they measure curiosity, not checkout totals.

Local shops on the calendar (our data)

Distinct venues with at least one listed Cup, Challenge, or Pre Release in the window — a floor on active Organized Play infrastructure:

Densest venues per million residents: Oregon (15.2), North Dakota (15.1), Wisconsin (14.9).

Card-shop directories (CardsNearby, all games)

As of Oct 15, 2026, the CardsNearby 2026 shop census lists 4,176 qualifying US card shops; about a third stock Pokémon. Top states by shop count: California (339), Texas (317), Florida (264), Ohio (175), Pennsylvania (170). That directory covers sports and other TCGs too — treat it as retail density, not Pokémon revenue.

Search interest (Google Trends)

Google Trends reports a rolling past-12-months interest index by US state (0–100), not a fixed calendar year. We re-pulled it on Oct 15, 2026 so the window ends at that capture — the ranks can shift as the window slides.

For “Pokemon TCG,” Wyoming is at 100, then Hawaii (81), California (75), Washington (64), and Utah (64). Wisconsin — first on events per person — sits at 50 on search.

For “Pokemon cards,” Hawaii leads at 100. Wyoming falls to the middle. “TCG” tracks closer to competitive play; “cards” pulls in collecting and gifts.

How to read this (and how to cite it)#

• Source. Events: pokedata.ovh mirror of the official Play! Pokémon locator. Confirm dates with the league.
• Window. 2026-10-15 through 2026-11-30 only — about six weeks, heavy on Pre Releases. A full-season scrape would be fairer for “year of play.”
• What counts. League Cups, League Challenges, Pre Releases. Friendlies and VG/GO are out of scope.
• Population. July 1, 2024 Census estimates (NST-EST2024-POP). Table = 50 states + D.C. (Puerto Rico’s 52 events omitted from rankings).
• Trends. Rolling past 12 months ending at capture (Oct 15, 2026), not a frozen year. Index is relative within that window (max state = 100).
• Not “most popular.” Events ≠ sealed sales ≠ graded volume. Trends ≠ dollars spent.
• Suggested citation. Poké Life, “Where Pokémon TCG is biggest in the US,” Oct 15, 2026, https://www.poke-life.com/research/pokemon-events-by-state/

Full state table#

States ranked by events per 100,000 residents. Trends is Google’s 0–100 index for “Pokemon TCG” over the past 12 months.