Breathe Easy – New Jersey Is Officially Not The Smelliest State In America

This is one of the longest-lasting, lingering stereotypes about New Jersey, and one of the ones we are most sick of. New Jersey does not smell any worse than any other state. Or does it?

If you are like me, you defend the Garden State to anyone who will listen. We remind people that we're not rude, we don't talk funny, and the state doesn't smell. Maybe we should hold up on that last one for a minute.

Here's the good news. Zippia says New Jersey is not the worst smelling state in the nation. It's official. We never have to hear that stereotype again, right? Not so fast.

Here's the bad news. In the same report, New Jersey is among the ten worst smelling states in the nation. As a matter of fact, we are #7.

But, if someone told you a study would come out saying 6 states smell worse than the Garden State, we would have signed up for it without a  second of hesitation.

Now somebody just needs to get the word out to all the stand-up comedians out there. Make your smelly state jokes about Maryland, since they ranked #1.

And while we're at it, maybe we can start calling Maryland, California, Florida, Delaware, Massachusetts, or Alabama the "armpit of America". They've been calling us that for years, and all of those states smell worse than we do, according to this study.

And by the way, the study determined the smelliest states by using factors such as air quality, trash rating, and believe it or not, bad breath statistics.