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How Many U.S. States Have You Visited? How Many Have You Lived In?

January 3, 2019 By Jeff 37 Comments

Above are the ones I’ve visited. I think it’s 27, plus Washington D.C. For some reason, D.C. is listed on all the interactive map sites as a state. Unless I missed a headline somewhere along the way, it ain’t a state. Oh well. According to this article, the average is 12 states visited. Seems low to me. Does it seem low to you? On the other hand, I know some people who’ve probably been to three states (two begrudgingly) so they skew the results.

A couple of things… I’ve been to the Denver airport a number of times, for layovers. But the article specifically says “excluding airport layovers,” so I didn’t count Colorado. Also, I’ve never been to Louisiana, which is something I’m not proud of. I will admit that whenever people start talking about how great New Orleans is… I just clam up and let them assume I’ve been there. I don’t lie, I just withhold information. Also, I’m not 100% sure about Maine. I might’ve crossed over the border, but I’m not certain so I didn’t count it. And it feels like I should’ve been in Michigan at some point, but can’t remember any details so I left it off, as well.

So, I’m fairly confident my number is 27. What’s yours? If you need a list (I certainly did), here’s one.

In addition, I’ve LIVED in five states: West Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, California, and Pennsylvania. I’d like to add one more to that list before they haul my bloated carcass off to the specialty crematorium for the husky. Maybe South Carolina. We’ll see how it goes.

I believe my grandmother Kay visited all of the “lower 48” as they’re called. I don’t think she ever made it to Alaska or Hawaii. The crazy thing about that: she didn’t start traveling until she was up there in years. She was busy raising a bunch of kids and keeping the proverbial train on the tracks. But, later in life she started traveling and having fun and made it to most of the states. I don’t think I’ll get to as many as she did.

As for countries visited, I only have three: USA, Canada, and England. I’d like to add to that list, as well. Starting with the other UK countries.

In any case, please share whatever you’d like in the comments. How many states have you visited? How many have you called home? How about countries? I’m sure I’m on the lower end o’ the scale with countries visited. Use the comments link to bring us up to date on it.

I don’t have the podcast back from producer Zipp yet. So, I can’t link to it here. I’m sure he’ll send it soon though, and I’ll upload it to Patreon — maybe after I get home from work tonight. It’s a thank you episode for patrons and is #50 if you can believe it. Fifty episodes! Is that crazy, or what? Who could’ve predicted I would’ve stuck with it that long? Certainly not me. But I love it! Unless I’m wiped out on I-81 or whatever, there will be many, many more episodes.

And speaking of that, I’m thinking about doing an episode where I answer listener questions. So, if you have anything you’d like for me to address, send me an email to jeff@thewvsr.com, with the subject line ASK JEFF. And, unless the question is completely inappropriate, I’ll answer it in a future episode. And give the asker a shoutout, as well. Pretty exciting, huh? Damn right.

And that’s going to do it for today’s update. It’s almost time to leave for work. The cool thing? Yesterday felt like Monday, but today’s Thursday. So, there’s that. Everybody’s working for the weekend.

UPDATE: The new podcast episode is now live! Here’s your link. And here’s the summary:

Recorded live inside a full house! Everybody’s moving around like ants, my phone is exceedingly chirpy, and I have a sore throat. Fun times! In this one I tell you about an angry email I received from a guy who has an issue with Patreon, my fancy new podcasting microphone (still in the box), New Year’s Eve television, 1980s convenience store coffee, 2019 calendar shopping, and the Totally Out of Context Quote of the Week. Thanks for the support! I hope you enjoy it.

I’ll see you guys again on the next real Monday.

Have a great one!

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Filed Under: Daily

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Not Oprah says

    January 3, 2019 at 12:52 pm

    Will get back to this question. Maybe I can say ‘first’ in alongtime. I am sure the military surf reporters will have this one!. I am just nosey so travel whenever I get the opportunity.

    Reply
  2. Cole says

    January 3, 2019 at 1:07 pm

    I guess I could Google this, but what category do the Virgin Islands fall in since different countries own different ones?

    Countries visited: 2 – USA, Canada (plus several non- US Virgin Islands); hope to add many more places to this list in the future

    States lived in: 1 – NC

    States visited: 24, 25 if DC is in fact a state (plus St Thomas, St John & St Croix, US Virgin Islands)

    Reply
  3. lessjunkfood says

    January 3, 2019 at 1:07 pm

    31 states plus DC. And still kicking myself 8 years later for not realizing how close Portland Oregon is to the Washington border. Coulda driven 5 minutes and checked another one off.

    Countries, just the US, Canada, Mexico and St. Lucia.

    Reply
    • Sebastian Valmont says

      January 3, 2019 at 4:29 pm

      My wife, who grew up in Portland, visited her first state outside of Oregon when she was a teenager. Considering Portland is a short drive across a bridge from Washington, I was absolutely floored.

      Reply
  4. Doug2 says

    January 3, 2019 at 2:33 pm

    36 states plus DC, China, England, Germany, Belgium, Canada, Mexico, Bahamas, Brazil.
    Most of the travel is for business.
    I have lived in 3 states, 4 if you include part time condo in Florida.

    Reply
  5. Steve in WV says

    January 3, 2019 at 2:59 pm

    I have never been west of the “Missipp.” I have only lived in West By God, but I have visited OH, KY, IN, IL, PA, DC, VA, NC, SC, GA, and FL. One of these days, I will make it out west and NY is on my list. The wife wants to go to NY during the Christmas season, but I would prefer late spring or early fall.

    Countries: Only the US and the Bahamas. I have little to no interest in international travel. Plenty to see here.

    My family is mostly from Lincoln County, which is just south of the Charleston and Huntington areas. Many of them act like a trip to Charleston requires a passport, a AAA trip-tik, and a small caliber hand gun.

    Reply
    • Tiff says

      January 3, 2019 at 6:15 pm

      I recommend NYC in Winter. OK, just about any time, but winter is great if you don’t want to lounge around too long in Central Park or whatever. Just eating great foods could probably take up most of your time.

      Reply
  6. PASue says

    January 3, 2019 at 3:26 pm

    37 plus D.C.. At least half were business trips. Countries. U.S., Canada, Mexico and England. We’ve talked about a trip to the Dakotas someday, as well as Alaska. (Perhaps when we retire someday.)

    Reply
  7. CrazyCanuck says

    January 3, 2019 at 3:29 pm

    15 States + Washington DC: Michigan, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Ohio, Florida, South Carolina, Montana, Washington, Georgia, Illinois, Nevada, West Virginia and Washington DC.

    Countries (I live in Canada): United States, China, Singapore, Thailand, Cayman Islands, Barbados, The Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Panama, Mexico, Italy, France and Monaco

    I’m going to have to put some serious thought into a non whistle-dick question for Jeff!

    Reply
  8. Zach says

    January 3, 2019 at 3:56 pm

    Visited 35 states plus DC and ten countries, I think.
    Lived in four states and three different countries (USA, Canada, England).

    Reply
  9. Jerry in WV says

    January 3, 2019 at 3:57 pm

    28 states for me, lived in 5, only been to two countries because Uncle Sam said no outside of the country travel for me unless approved. Approval is a long and arduous process that just isn’t worth it.

    Reply
  10. uncle_wedgie says

    January 3, 2019 at 4:20 pm

    I have not been to Rhode Island, Michigan or North Dakota but have hit everything else.

    I have lived in Alabama, Georgia, New York, California, Tennessee, Washington.

    Countries: Canada, Mexico, UK, Spain, France, Italy, Yugoslavia, Thailand, Philippines, Australia, and Kenya.

    Reply
  11. Sebastian Valmont says

    January 3, 2019 at 4:27 pm

    Visited 27, lived in six (California, Oregon, Washington, New York, Utah, Missouri). The most out of reach state I’ve been to is Hawaii, hoping to get Alaska soon. Country wise I’ve only been to Canada, hoping to get Irish citizenship this year and visit soon. There’s an awesome Masters degree program in Scotland that’s only a year long, so I might make it two countries that I’ve lived in if I can get the EU rate for school.

    Reply
  12. The Qweezy Mark says

    January 3, 2019 at 4:42 pm

    I’ve hit 39 + DC. Minnesota was almost out because it was a layover but the layover turned into a cancellation and the airline put me up in a hotel oddly far from the airport. For dinner that night (December in MN) I had to walk through a huge parking lot and climb over 2 10 ft. high snowbanks in dress shoes to get to Joe Senser’s Sports Bar for dinner. That’s counts as being in Minnesota, dammit!

    Lived in PA, NY, AZ and TX. I’ll take the Southwest every time.

    Reply
  13. Jorge says

    January 3, 2019 at 5:08 pm

    34 states plus DC for me, but I’ve only lived in one.

    I’ve been to Canada, Mexico, the Bahamas, Grand Cayman, Belize, and Honduras.

    Reply
  14. surreal killer says

    January 3, 2019 at 5:18 pm

    I’ve been to all US states except for Hawaii, Minnesota, and North Dakota. I’ve lived in nine of them. Visited 7 European nations, three in South America, and the two that border this once great nation of ours. I am trying to see a ball game in all 30 MLB ball parks with my son, but we have only been to 13 so far. We’ll hit at least two more this summer if all goes as planned.

    Reply
  15. Mookie325 says

    January 3, 2019 at 5:34 pm

    Not sure if “visited” includes just places where one has stopped at least for the night or day or if it includes driving through, maybe stopping for gas or food. If I include only those where I stopped for several hours or so I am a perfectly average 12 +DC. If I include drive throughs, etc, it’s more like 18. Only lived in one state though, but I hope to change that in the next couple years.

    Reply
  16. Stuart in Oz says

    January 3, 2019 at 5:43 pm

    Only 1 US state Hawaii! 5 Oz states and 1 Territory. As for Countries I’ve been to England. France. Germany. Greece. Holland. Spain Japan. Bali. Plus Hawaii ( OS for me) lived in England and Australia

    Reply
  17. Tiff says

    January 3, 2019 at 6:21 pm

    I am relatively poorly travelled, in my opinion. I’ve lived in New York (both Long Island and ‘upstate), Virginia, Florida, Connecticut, and now North Carolina.

    Been to about half the lower 48, but mostly because of road trips. Maine, New Hampsha, Vermont, Massapoosits, RI, CT, NY, PA, NJ, DE, MA, VA, SC, GA, FL, WV, IL, IN, MI, ND, SD, WY, CA, OR, WA. Oh, and LA.

    Countries? US, UK, Canada, Bermuda.

    Good question!

    Reply
  18. Limey says

    January 3, 2019 at 8:04 pm

    38 states plus D.C. and V.I. and lived in 2.

    A bunch of countries but none in Asia yet. Need to fix that.

    Reply
  19. uncle_rickles says

    January 3, 2019 at 8:06 pm

    30 states, lived in 4. 23 countries and counting, I believe if I’ve had a local beer there, I’ve been there.

    Reply
  20. Dave says

    January 3, 2019 at 8:35 pm

    Russia, Bahamas and Bermuda. Random huh.

    Reply
  21. AngryWhiteGuy says

    January 3, 2019 at 9:29 pm

    Straight up 12. I’m just an average man, with an average life-rockwell. Have lived in 2 states.

    Reply
  22. Popecosgrove says

    January 3, 2019 at 9:39 pm

    33 states visited, and I visited 23 of them while living in my bus, so I guess technically one could say I lived in 22 of them, since I had my (mobile) home with me and spent at least a night there (22, not 23, because we did not sleep in Texas). As for countries, I took a train/bus from Slovakia to Czech Republic to Hungary to Austria to Netherlands to Norway, staying at least a night in each of those. The train passed through other countries, but I figure it’s like airports, doesn’t really count. So 7 countries visited, though the only one I’ve lived in for more than a month is the USA

    Reply
  23. I'm_Not_Bob says

    January 3, 2019 at 9:49 pm

    Visited 29 states, lived in 5 and have been in 9 countries.
    And I am more native American than she who is 1/1,024th that she parlayed into being a Harvard professor.

    Reply
  24. chill says

    January 3, 2019 at 10:18 pm

    Excellent question.

    I’ve visited 29 states plus DC and driven through two others. I’ve only lived in NY (city and upstate), Mass., Virginia and DC. Countries visited other than the US: Canada, England, France, Germany, Netherlands, Iceland, Japan. Switzerland doesn’t count because we just flew into Geneva and immediately got on a bus to France.

    I have never been in the military, nor have any of my parents or siblings.

    Reply
  25. Not Oprah says

    January 4, 2019 at 12:44 am

    I’ve visited 27 states, 17 countries and lived in 6 provinces/territories. Still lots to cover.

    Reply
  26. Pippa says

    January 4, 2019 at 4:43 am

    I’ve lived in 10 states plus DC, and the number visited brings the total to 43. Lived in three countries, visited 24. I really do love to travel but hadn’t ever tallied the places up like this until Jeff asked. A lot of the non-US travel is repeat visits, so maybe it’s time to start breaking some new ground.

    Reply
  27. dean says

    January 4, 2019 at 5:03 am

    Been to 41 states. Most of the ones I’ve missed are in New England or border Canada.
    Lived in: Ohio, NJ, California, Texas, Maryland.

    Overseas: Japan, Philippines, Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia, Oman, Qatar, Afghanistan, UK, Germany, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg.

    It’s good to have relative stationed overseas. It’s good to have a job that includes overseas travel.

    Reply
  28. Root 66 says

    January 4, 2019 at 2:50 pm

    Gosh, I really need to get out more. I’ve only been to 13 states and D.C. so far and none of them were west of the Mississippi! I have also been to Canada (just barely). I have only ever lived in Ohio–I guess I like it here for some crazy reason! After seeing other people’s entries though, I want to take the Mrs., buy a Winnebago and just drive around the rest of the country for a while! Maybe someday…

    Reply
  29. Cross Lanes Curmudgeon says

    January 4, 2019 at 5:47 pm

    Been in every state except Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Alaska. I plan to check those states off my list, starting with Alaska, before I depart this mortal coil. Never ventured east of the Oregon-Idaho
    border until going “Back East” to Ohio for college. Have lived in Oregon (again), Ohio, California, New York, Maine and England since then, but far and away most of my time spent east of the Snake River has been in West Virginia, my home of choice for the past four decades. Am married to woman from Jeff’s home town of Dunbar (go Bulldogs!). When in my 20s, I worked for several months in Winchester, England, and visited Scotland, Wales, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Iceland, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and have since been to Canada and Mexico several times. I would like to resume international travel, but at this point in my life, it will be limited to English-speaking countries.

    Reply
  30. Adam says

    January 5, 2019 at 2:46 am

    Been to 36 states, DC, Puerto Rico, and USVI… but have only called Texas home. I’ve been to Mexico, Russia, Czech Republic, The Netherlands, Belize, Italy, Slovenia, Austria (stayed across the hall from Gene Simmons at the Ritz in Vienna), France, UK, South Africa and India… most of those places many times. Quite a bit more for me to see.

    I just finished booking my MLK weekend plans which include Miami, Paris, and NYC over an extended long weekend.

    Reply
  31. Phil Jett says

    January 5, 2019 at 12:02 pm

    31 States visited, 1 Territory (Guam), lived in 11 (California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Texas, Virginia, Washington) and visited 11 countries (Japan, New Zealand, Australia, South Korea, Diego Garcia, Scotland, England, Spain, Cuba, Mexico, Canada) and the North Pole.

    Reply
  32. Malcolm says

    January 7, 2019 at 8:50 am

    I have been physically present in all states except Alaska. Many of them twice. I have lived in six: MA, IL, CA, NC, VA, and OH.

    The only dubious visit is to Kansas, where in 1985 I got off I-44 near Joplin to take a photo simply documenting my presence in Kansas with a photo next to a roadside welcome sign. Last year I drove from the Missouri side to the Kansas side of Kansas City in order to eat at Joe’s KC BBQ (highly recommended and a reason to visit Kansas all by itself). Therefore, a total of about 2 hours of my life have been spent in Kansas.

    Other asterisk states: Idaho, South Dakota and Arkansas were all “drive-through,” but it was from one side of the state to the other (no corner cutting) in each case. In all other states I have slept at least one night.

    Countries: if you count Caribbean island countries like St. Kitts-Nevis, I am up to about 44. Half of those came on two round-the-world backpacking trips in the 1980s.

    I now travel a LOT for work so it is difficult to avoid the lower 48, and at least one new country is added annually.

    Reply
  33. Alex says

    January 7, 2019 at 11:34 am

    I have been to two states (but seen three, PA visible across the lake) and lived in none, but crossed the border countless times.
    My cousin, iron butt motorcyclist has done all states and provinces (multiple times), the dempster 3 times (when it was still mostly gravel) and he’s also racked up living in four states.

    Reply
  34. Corby says

    January 7, 2019 at 10:08 pm

    I’ve visited 20 states and D.C where I was born.
    I’ve lived in 4 states: most of my life I’ve lived in Tennessee and also Georgia, California and Virginia.
    Outside the country I’ve been to Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, St. Martin and the Bahamas.

    Like you, we like South Carolina too, my wife used to have several family members there but sadly they are gone except for a couple.

    Reply
  35. C1-NRB says

    January 11, 2019 at 5:43 pm

    Been to 31 + DC, most recently Hawaii (last week.)

    Been to Mexico and the Bahamas.

    Only lived in Texas but likely retire somewhere else.

    Reply

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