Which state has the most sightseeing boat businesses?
🔎 Skip to the answer (ranking table)Guess
Which states have the most sightseeing boat businesses — whale-watching trips, harbor cruises, glacier tours, airboat rides? Tap them most-to-least.
Tapping assigns 1→4 in order
I bet… New York! Boats all around that big city 🐾
Answer
The real order is…
Florida runs away with it, more than double #2 California. Now look at #3 and #4: Hawaii and Alaska. Alaska has fewer people than almost every other state — and still has more sightseeing-boat businesses than Texas. Whales, glaciers and volcano coasts are things you go out and look at from a boat.
📚 Background Florida wins big — more than double #2 California. The surprise is who comes next: Hawaii is #3 and Alaska is #4. Alaska has fewer people than almost every other state, and still it has more sightseeing-boat businesses than Texas. Places travellers come to see from the water — whales, glaciers, volcano coasts — can fill a lot of tour boats. (U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns) (opens in a new tab)
🔍 Explore more: ⛵『Two boat tables, two different winners』→ I bet… New York! Boats all around that big city 🐾
Compare
Sightseeing boat businesses (by state, 2022)
Highest: Florida (631 boat businesses); lowest shown here: Utah (3 boat businesses).
Note: counts sightseeing-boat business locations with paid staff — each counted once, whether it runs a big ship or one little boat. It does not count how many people ride. 2022, U.S. Census Bureau. Only states where the Census published a count for this industry are shown — the rest have no published count for it.
Do they let dogs on board? 🐾
Recap
🏅 Today's discovery
🏅 Florida is the USA's #1!
🐕 States in Numbers
Quiz a friend!
📋 See the ranking table (top 42)
| Rank | State | Value |
|---|---|---|
| #1 | Florida | 631 boat businesses |
| #2 | California | 244 boat businesses |
| #3 | Hawaii | 166 boat businesses |
| #4 | Alaska | 145 boat businesses |
| #5 | New York | 112 boat businesses |
| #6 | North Carolina | 74 boat businesses |
| #7 | Washington | 72 boat businesses |
| #8 | Texas | 69 boat businesses |
| #9 | South Carolina | 68 boat businesses |
| #10 | Massachusetts | 61 boat businesses |
| #11 | New Jersey | 58 boat businesses |
| #12 | Maine | 57 boat businesses |
| #13 | Louisiana | 38 boat businesses |
| #14 | Michigan | 36 boat businesses |
| #15 | Rhode Island | 34 boat businesses |
| #16 | Alabama | 31 boat businesses |
| #16 | Illinois | 31 boat businesses |
| #18 | Maryland | 26 boat businesses |
| #18 | Oregon | 26 boat businesses |
| #18 | Virginia | 26 boat businesses |
| #21 | Georgia | 21 boat businesses |
| #21 | Wisconsin | 21 boat businesses |
| #23 | Delaware | 18 boat businesses |
| #24 | Pennsylvania | 17 boat businesses |
| #25 | Minnesota | 16 boat businesses |
| #25 | New Hampshire | 16 boat businesses |
| #25 | Ohio | 16 boat businesses |
| #28 | Connecticut | 13 boat businesses |
| #29 | Mississippi | 11 boat businesses |
| #29 | Tennessee | 11 boat businesses |
| #31 | Idaho | 10 boat businesses |
| #32 | Arizona | 8 boat businesses |
| #33 | Montana | 7 boat businesses |
| #34 | Iowa | 6 boat businesses |
| #34 | Kentucky | 6 boat businesses |
| #34 | Missouri | 6 boat businesses |
| #34 | Nevada | 6 boat businesses |
| #34 | Wyoming | 6 boat businesses |
| #39 | Vermont | 5 boat businesses |
| #40 | Colorado | 3 boat businesses |
| #40 | Indiana | 3 boat businesses |
| #40 | Utah | 3 boat businesses |
Only states where the Census published a count for this industry are shown — the rest have no published count for it.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau (2022)
Sources
Data as of: 2022
Census County Business Patterns 2022: scenic and sightseeing transportation, water (NAICS 487210), establishments by state (opens in a new tab) (2026-07-30) — Official published establishment counts (a business location with paid employees counts once, whatever its size; the committed raw file holds the API values verbatim with the NAICS code). Only the states the Census publishes for this industry appear.
↳ On the Census CBP data (data.census.gov or api.census.gov/data/2022/cbp), filter NAICS 487210 (Scenic and Sightseeing Transportation, Water) and read ESTAB (number of establishments) for 2022 by state.