Over 100 million passports are registered to U.S. citizens. The travel rewards management website $4 recently crunched the numbers to discover people who live in New Jersey are the most likely to hold a passport. At 54%, more than half the state's residents have one, which blows past the national average of 37%.
New York, Massachusetts, Alaska, and Connecticut round out the top five states for passport holders.
$4 northeastern residents are more likely to have passports because of their proximity to Canada and Europe, and the Caribbean, which is a popular destination during harsh winters. Major airports are also within easy distance to people across those states, a further inducement to international travel.
The states with the fewest passport holders include Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Mississippi, where only 15% of the population is registered for passports.
MileCards made its calculations based on dividing the $4 by the 2013 U.S. Census $4.
