It won’t come as much of a surprise, but New York has been named America’s capital of comedy. But more surprising is that tiny Rhode Island has come in second, followed by Hawaii, while California fails to make the top five.

Researchers looked at comedy clubs, famous comedians, festivals, and jokes on Reddit to compare all 50 US states, but factoring in their size and population gave a boost to the smaller contenders.

For example, Rhode Island has 6.77 comedy clubs per square km compared to just 1.91 in New York, even though Manhattan is the spiritual home of stand-up.

Rounding out the Top 5 are Massachusetts and Maryland.

Holger Sindbaek, founder of World of Card Games, which conducted the research, said: ‘A lot of state rankings focus on things like nightlife or big-city attractions, but we wanted to dig into where humour really lives day to day. From local comedy clubs to how active people are in online joke communities, we looked for places that genuinely embrace comedy culture, not just spots known for the biggest shows.’

The research found America is home to more than 3,200 comedy clubs—roughly one for every 100,000 people.

Published: 30 Jun 2025