In New Jersey, we take pride in the big names that have come out of the state, like Bruce Springsteen, James Gandolfini and Jack Nicholson. But, did you know New Jersey is considered one of the most talented states in the country?
New Jersey ranks ninth overall for producing the most stars, according to a recent ranking from TicketSource, with a total of 3,854 stars.
Among the top three most talented states were California with 12,793 stars, New York with 11,731 stars and Texas with 8,299 stars.
TicketSource determined this ranking by gathering a list of celebrities who were born in each state for four categories: actors and actresses; singers and rappers; comedians and athletes. The ranking did not take into account musical bands, as members may be from different states, and athletes included those from basketball, American football, baseball and ice hockey. (If it did, we’d venture a guess that New Jersey would come out on top.)
The number of stars born in each state were then tallied for each category, and an overall number was taken by combining all four categories.
New Jersey ranked highest for producing the most actors and actresses, coming in sixth with 910 stars. Among the most famous actors and actresses to come from New Jersey are Meryl Streep, Kirsten Dunst and Paul Rudd.
For comedians, New Jersey ranked seventh, producing big names like Janeane Garofalo, Jerry Lewis and Jon Stewart.
New Jersey also ranked ninth for rappers and singers for stars like Bruce Springsteen, Ice-T, Fetty Wapp and Whitney Houston, as well as eleventh for athletes like Derek Jeter, Carli Lloyd, Sam Mills and Shaquille O’Neal.
Here are the top ten states and how many stars they’ve produced:
- No. 1: California – 12,793
- No. 2: New York – 11,731
- No. 3: Texas – 8,299
- No. 4: Pennsylvania – 6,474
- No. 5: Illinois – 5,720
- No. 6: Ohio – 5,359
- No. 7: Florida – 4,701
- No. 8: Michigan – 4,001
- No. 9: New Jersey – 3,854
- No. 10: Massachusetts – 3,756