Which state had the most Eagle Scouts in 2016?

Utah’s state motto is “Industry,” but I’m going to propose a new one: “Home of Eagle Scouts.”

That’s because no state produced more Eagle Scouts in 2016 than Utah. Thanks in large part to the strong support Scouting receives from the LDS church there, 5,664 young men became Eagle Scouts in Utah in 2016.

Utah is No. 1 on the list for at least the eighth year in a row. That’s every year since 2009 — the first year for which detailed Eagle Scout statistics were made available to me.

California, Texas, Pennsylvania and North Carolina round out 2016’s top 5. See the complete list — 1 to 50 — below.

Then keep reading for the population-adjusted numbers.

Utah 5,664
California 5,044
Texas 4,308
Pennsylvania 2,461
North Carolina 2,215
Virginia 2,112
New York 2,060
Ohio 1,876
Florida 1,741
Illinois 1,739
Georgia 1,586
Arizona 1,484
New Jersey 1,444
Missouri 1,385
Idaho 1,320
Washington 1,318
Michigan 1,266
Maryland 1,075
Massachusetts 1,047
Minnesota 980
Colorado 972
Indiana 904
Wisconsin 896
Tennessee 873
Connecticut 766
Kansas 644
South Carolina 633
Alabama 620
Oregon 582
Iowa 533
Nevada 533
Kentucky 487
Oklahoma 487
Nebraska 439
Mississippi 395
Louisiana 361
Hawaii 288
Arkansas 282
New Hampshire 214
Rhode Island 202
Montana 198
New Mexico 186
Maine 179
West Virginia 175
Wyoming 142
Alaska 140
South Dakota 134
Delaware 131
North Dakota 102
Vermont 74

But wait! It’s not really fair to look at these numbers without adjusting for population.

I mean, of course more young men will become Eagle Scouts in the nation’s state with the most people under 18 (California) than the one with the least (Vermont).

So …

Which state had the most Eagle Scouts in 2016 after adjusting for population?

I used the data available here, which supplied the number of people under age 18 in each of our 50 states.

Utah topped this list as well, with one new Eagle Scout for every 161 people under 18. But the population-adjusted numbers moved these states from outside the top 10 into it: Idaho, Wyoming, Connecticut, Missouri, Rhode Island, Nebraska and Hawaii.

California, second on the unadjusted list, moves to 41 on the adjusted list.

  1. Utah
  2. Idaho
  3. Virginia
  4. Wyoming
  5. Connecticut
  6. Missouri
  7. North Carolina
  8. Rhode Island
  9. Nebraska
  10. Hawaii
  11. Pennsylvania
  12. Arizona
  13. Kansas
  14. Montana
  15. Washington
  16. New Hampshire
  17. Maryland
  18. Nevada
  19. Colorado
  20. Minnesota
  21. Massachusetts
  22. Alaska
  23. Iowa
  24. New Jersey
  25. Ohio
  26. Maine
  27. Wisconsin
  28. Oregon
  29. Delaware
  30. South Dakota
  31. Georgia
  32. Vermont
  33. Texas
  34. Illinois
  35. North Dakota
  36. Tennessee
  37. South Carolina
  38. Michigan
  39. Indiana
  40. Alabama
  41. California
  42. Mississippi
  43. Oklahoma
  44. New York
  45. Kentucky
  46. West Virginia
  47. Florida
  48. Arkansas
  49. New Mexico
  50. Louisiana

What were the 2016 numbers for Eagle Scouts who don’t live in the 50 states?

Eagle Scouts don’t just live in the 50 United States. They’re everywhere.

Puerto Rico 189
Transatlantic Council 180
Far East Council 95
Washington, D.C. 19
Direct Service Council 7
Virgin Islands (Now merged into council No. 82) 1

For more Eagle Scout stats, click here.


Hat tip: Thanks to the BSA’s Mike Lo Vecchio for the data.


About Bryan Wendell 3282 Articles
Bryan Wendell, an Eagle Scout, is the founder of Bryan on Scouting and a contributing writer.