Only 10% of Americans Have Passports? Not True It Seems…

There is a belief that only 10% of Americans actually have passports, so as you’re an international cell phone owner, this suggests you are among the minority of adventurous globe-trotting souls.

However, thanks to the data released by the US government on their data.gov site, this may not be true…

The C.G.P. Grey website took the data from the government, mixed it with some data from the 2000 census, and came up with the following percentages…

American Passport Ownership Percentage State by State

• NEW JERSEY – 68.36%
• DELAWARE – 67.05%
• ALASKA – 65.01%
• MASSACHUSETTS – 63.42%
• NEW YORK – 62.47%
• CALIFORNIA – 60.19%
• NEW HAMPSHIRE – 59.39%
• CONNECTICUT – 58.50%
• WASHINGTON – 57.28%
• VERMONT – 56.32%
• MARYLAND – 56.21%
• MINNESOTA – 56.14%
• COLORADO – 54.88%
• RHODE ISLAND – 54.40%
• FLORIDA – 52.83%
• ILLINOIS – 52.06%
• MAINE – 51.62%
• ARIZONA – 51.24%
• HAWAII – 49.94%
• UTAH – 49.36%
• VIRGINIA – 49.16%
• TEXAS – 48.80%
• NORTH DAKOTA – 48.30%
• NEVADA – 46.84%
• MONTANA – 46.63%
• PENNSYLVANIA – 45.11%
• WISCONSIN – 43.70%
• OREGON – 43.39%
• MICHIGAN – 42.89%
• WYOMING – 41.40%
• IDAHO – 41.24%
• IOWA – 39.34%
• NEBRASKA – 38.97%
• GEORGIA – 38.73%
• KANSAS – 38.18%
• SOUTH DAKOTA – 37.69%
• NEW MEXICO – 37.11%
• OHIO – 35.71%
• MISSOURI – 35.32%
• NORTH CAROLINA – 34.18%
• OKLAHOMA – 33.23%
• INDIANA – 32.73%
• SOUTH CAROLINA – 32.09%
• LOUISIANA – 29.47%
• TENNESSEE – 28.78%
• ARKANSAS – 25.14%
• ALABAMA – 25.03%
• KENTUCKY – 24.94%
• WEST VIRGINIA – 20.43%
• MISSISSIPPI – 19.86%

Now this doesn’t actually mean they all get used, but it seems that Americans are perhaps not as insular as the rest of the world likes to think!

Agree or disagree? Leave your thoughts as a comment…