TAMPA, Fla. — The Sunshine State was named the No. 1 most fun state to live in by a recent study.
This may not come as a surprise to some Floridians when they think of theme parks such as Walt Disney World Resort and cities like Tampa and Miami. But, a recent study by WalletHub ranked all 50 states across many factors to see which one is the most fun.
Researchers used factors including entertainment, recreation and nightlife to make their list. Florida was crowned the winner because it led the country in the number of restaurants, amusement parks, arcades and music festivals per capita.
The study also pointed to the state having the third-most attractions and a variety of arts, entertainment and recreation establishments. There is something for everyone in the state including beaches, springs and parks.
Weather-wise, Florida is ranked number 12 for best weather overall.
Under the two categories of entertainment/recreation and nightlife, researchers evaluated 26 metrics. For example, some of the metrics under entertainment and recreation included the number of attractions, restaurants and movie theaters to name a few. Under nightlife, metrics included average beer and wine prices, movie costs and number of music festivals, among others.
In all, Florida attained a slightly higher score than California with a total score of 65.51.
WalletHub used several sources including data from federal agencies to complete their study. They used data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Park Service as some of their references.
Florida came in second for the entertainment and recreation rank and third for the nightlife rank.
If you're curious about where other states are placed on the list, you can view the full list of rankings here.