New Jersey Is America’s LOUDEST State

I know it may sound silly, but I've taken a lot of precautions to protect my hearing over the  years. Of course I was stupid when I was a kid, but around high school or college I started to be sure to have ear plugs with me whenever I went to a concert or my old band was playing. Even now I do what I can to keep my headphones quiet. Music is a huge part of my life, so I don't want to run the risk of losing my hearing.

Unfortunately, I happen to live in the LOUDEST state in America.

BestLife ran the numbers, and ranked all fifty states in terms of "loudness". The first variable they use is population density, so obviously being the most densely-populated state, we're in a hole to start. They also look at the state's motor vehicle registrations to determine the number of vehicles per capita, then add in construction spending, THEN add in air traffic data to see how many flights land and fly over each state.

They used all these to create a scale that maxes out at 100 - and guess what score NJ got? ONE HUNDRED. Literally the top of the charts, we maxed out the data, you cannot possibly get any louder than we are.

NJ has a Population Density of 1207.80, 0.68 vehicles per capita, $1,395.04 in Construction Spending per capita, and 710,816 flights. Obviously when you consider Newark, Atlantic City, JFK, La Guardia, Philly, and even Trenton airports, there are a lot of flight paths that cross our sky.

In case you're wondering, Virginia is the second loudest state, with Rhode Island, Maryland, and Delaware rounding out the Top Five. New York lands at 7, and Pennsylvania at 9. If you're looking for some peace and solitude, the five quietest states are Idaho (46), Mississippi (47), New Hampshire (48), Maine (49), and Vermont (50).

Thanks to my coworker Lou for the heads up!