Which state has the most hunters in the US? Which state is the most visited huting state? These are the questions we’ll answer in this state by state round-up of hunter numbers in the US.
Did you know there are expected to be about 15.8 million hunters reported in the US for 2021? Nearly all the headline figures you see are about 2 years out of date, but we’ve crunched some numbers from various sources to come up with a pretty bullet proof prediction for the upcoming US FWS data.
All the data below is taken from the most recent release (2021) of the US Fish and Wildlife service apportionment data. Here’s what you’ll learn:
Table of Contents
For more nuggets checkout our comprehensive deep-dive into US hunting statistics.
Paid Hunting Licence Holders by State
Texas has the most paid hunters with 1,094,753 people paying for a hunting licence, with Pennsylvania a close second at 945,731.
Non Resident Hunting Licences by State
We can see from this one that Idaho is top here with 248,610 out of state hunters, Wisconsin is a close second with 236,639.
Resident Hunting Licences by State
Wisconsin permits 3,965,367 of it’s nearly 5.8 million residents to hunt, that’s 68%, closely followed by Pennsylvania with 2,299,595, although there the population is much greater at 12.8 million so that’s only 18% residential hunters.
Gross Costs of Hunting Licences by State
$63 million is paid by hunters for their licences in Colorado which puts it at the top of the gross hunting revenue table. Texas comes in second with $46.4 million closely followed by Montana ($37.9 million), Pennsylvania ($37.8 million), Wisconsin ($36.4 million), Michican ($35.1 million) and Wyoming ($34.9 million).
The Raw Data
Here are the numbers used to generate the graphics above:
| State | Paid Hunting Licence Holders | Resident Hunting Licences | Non-Resident Hunting Licences | Gross Hunting Licence Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TEXAS | 1,094,753 | 1,617,322 | 86,692 | $46,478,896 |
| PENNSYLVANIA | 945,731 | 2,299,595 | 109,096 | $37,854,162 |
| GEORGIA | 724,269 | 1,278,512 | 156,423 | $18,688,363 |
| TENNESSEE | 694,458 | 722,305 | 66,774 | $15,916,654 |
| WISCONSIN | 666,670 | 3,965,367 | 236,639 | $36,411,664 |
| MICHIGAN | 642,242 | 2,027,911 | 56,781 | $35,167,438 |
| NORTH CAROLINA | 609,131 | 280,656 | 26,404 | $10,539,122 |
| NEW YORK | 550,868 | 1,343,275 | 49,018 | $24,159,303 |
| MINNESOTA | 545,300 | 1,287,146 | 44,750 | $32,161,547 |
| OKLAHOMA | 512,724 | 387,930 | 27,899 | $10,017,373 |
| MISSOURI | 472,993 | 1,718,224 | 93,646 | $21,991,016 |
| ALABAMA | 452,400 | 601,683 | 45,397 | $16,416,029 |
| LOUISIANA | 424,918 | 522,414 | 52,724 | $9,595,049 |
| OHIO | 346,220 | 770,492 | 99,530 | $22,782,306 |
| ARKANSAS | 343,300 | 349,098 | 150,728 | $19,123,254 |
| OREGON | 328,323 | 1,250,170 | 68,043 | $28,321,288 |
| KENTUCKY | 319,690 | 432,216 | 114,649 | $20,951,851 |
| ARIZONA | 302,383 | 464,607 | 88,708 | $19,899,566 |
| COLORADO | 296,609 | 481,253 | 120,954 | $63,003,307 |
| ILLINOIS | 293,617 | 1,286,280 | 81,944 | $29,822,755 |
| IDAHO | 275,244 | 1,412,039 | 248,610 | $30,169,986 |
| MISSISSIPPI | 271,281 | 292,528 | 84,168 | $12,525,631 |
| KANSAS | 264,331 | 286,196 | 174,334 | $25,754,091 |
| CALIFORNIA | 262,009 | 949,540 | 25,535 | $21,385,566 |
| VIRGINIA | 254,517 | 776,242 | 42,686 | $22,420,830 |
| UTAH | 250,565 | 405,303 | 50,260 | $19,508,104 |
| INDIANA | 250,481 | 337,728 | 21,356 | $11,106,278 |
| MONTANA | 222,309 | 853,341 | 186,315 | $37,918,378 |
| IOWA | 214,398 | 567,033 | 70,562 | $17,905,198 |
| SOUTH DAKOTA | 213,786 | 241,059 | 115,902 | $20,947,496 |
| SOUTH CAROLINA | 208,843 | 893,226 | 107,735 | $9,976,825 |
| WEST VIRGINIA | 205,447 | 484,447 | 143,966 | $8,682,137 |
| MAINE | 201,370 | 193,326 | 33,866 | $7,587,451 |
| FLORIDA | 191,501 | 275,295 | 20,104 | $6,930,994 |
| NEBRASKA | 180,932 | 299,496 | 93,317 | $15,924,863 |
| WASHINGTON | 171,940 | 688,501 | 13,365 | $17,068,601 |
| NORTH DAKOTA | 135,724 | 375,250 | 126,916 | $10,775,219 |
| WYOMING | 135,228 | 186,849 | 82,865 | $34,914,212 |
| MARYLAND | 116,702 | 272,730 | 65,204 | $6,347,391 |
| NEW MEXICO | 110,874 | 287,829 | 112,877 | $16,854,266 |
| ALASKA | 93,559 | 423,501 | 59,235 | $13,906,071 |
| NEVADA | 89,603 | 97,387 | 28,489 | $7,109,383 |
| NEW JERSEY | 68,767 | 281,220 | 121,963 | $7,481,628 |
| VERMONT | 62,237 | 166,813 | 16,988 | $4,089,276 |
| NEW HAMPSHIRE | 55,562 | 129,474 | 20,511 | $4,503,558 |
| MASSACHUSETTS | 55,139 | 239,101 | 17,849 | $2,355,086 |
| CONNECTICUT | 32,052 | 101,377 | 4,543 | $2,227,154 |
| DELAWARE | 15,619 | 45,997 | 6,044 | $1,399,724 |
| HAWAII | 10,608 | 10,697 | 1,274 | $558,223 |
| RHODE ISLAND | 7,514 | 49,019 | 4,705 | $741,785 |
Source: US FWS