Which state has the most sleep-away camps?
🔎 Skip to the answer (ranking table)Guess
Which states have the most overnight camp businesses — places with cabins where you stay the night? Tap them most-to-least.
Tapping assigns 1→4 in order
Camps need trees. Vermont! Final answer 🐾
Answer
The real order is…
California leads with about 1.2× as many as Texas, then New York and Pennsylvania. Now the surprise: Alaska is #5, even though it is not among the 45 most populous states — and Wyoming, the state with the fewest people of all, has more of these businesses than Indiana, which has about 12× as many people. The answer is in the government's own definition. This line is for overnight camps of every sort: children's summer camps, family vacation camps, wilderness and adventure camps, dude ranches, and hunting and fishing camps. One honest catch: it counts businesses with paid staff, so camps run by a city, a state or the federal government are mostly not in it.
📚 Background California has the most overnight camp businesses — but look at Alaska in #5, and at Wyoming, the state with the fewest people of all, sitting ahead of Indiana. The reason is the government's own definition: this group is not just summer camps for kids. It holds every kind of overnight camp with cabins — family vacation camps, wilderness and adventure camps, dude ranches, and hunting and fishing camps. One honest catch: this table counts businesses with paid staff, so camps run by a city, a state or the federal government are mostly not in it. (U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns) (opens in a new tab)
🔍 Explore more: ☀️『Alaska’s summer: the sun that forgets to set』→ Camps need trees. Vermont! Final answer 🐾
Compare
Overnight camp businesses (by state, 2022)
Most: California (220 camps); fewest shown here: Nevada (4 camps).
Note: counts business locations with paid staff that run overnight camps with accommodation such as cabins — children's camps, family vacation camps, hunting and fishing camps, dude ranches and outdoor adventure retreats — each counted once, whatever its size. Campgrounds and RV parks are a separate line. Camps run by federal, state or local government are mostly not in this table. 2022, U.S. Census Bureau. Only the 48 states where the Census published a count for this industry are shown — the rest have no published count for it.
A dude ranch counts as a camp? Wag! 🐾
Recap
🏅 Today's discovery
🏅 California is the USA's #1!
🐕 States in Numbers
Quiz a friend!
📋 See the ranking table (top 48)
| Rank | State | Value |
|---|---|---|
| #1 | California | 220 camps |
| #2 | Texas | 184 camps |
| #3 | New York | 182 camps |
| #4 | Pennsylvania | 162 camps |
| #5 | Alaska | 136 camps |
| #6 | Maine | 124 camps |
| #7 | Minnesota | 110 camps |
| #8 | Michigan | 105 camps |
| #9 | Colorado | 100 camps |
| #10 | Wisconsin | 96 camps |
| #11 | Florida | 90 camps |
| #12 | North Carolina | 83 camps |
| #13 | Montana | 80 camps |
| #14 | New Hampshire | 70 camps |
| #15 | Massachusetts | 65 camps |
| #15 | Ohio | 65 camps |
| #15 | Tennessee | 65 camps |
| #18 | New Jersey | 64 camps |
| #19 | Washington | 60 camps |
| #20 | Georgia | 58 camps |
| #20 | Missouri | 58 camps |
| #22 | Illinois | 55 camps |
| #23 | Arkansas | 52 camps |
| #24 | Wyoming | 50 camps |
| #25 | Alabama | 46 camps |
| #26 | Indiana | 45 camps |
| #26 | Oregon | 45 camps |
| #28 | Maryland | 44 camps |
| #28 | Virginia | 44 camps |
| #30 | South Dakota | 43 camps |
| #31 | Arizona | 38 camps |
| #32 | Vermont | 35 camps |
| #33 | Idaho | 34 camps |
| #34 | Iowa | 29 camps |
| #35 | Connecticut | 28 camps |
| #35 | Kentucky | 28 camps |
| #37 | West Virginia | 26 camps |
| #38 | Oklahoma | 22 camps |
| #38 | South Carolina | 22 camps |
| #38 | Utah | 22 camps |
| #41 | Nebraska | 21 camps |
| #41 | New Mexico | 21 camps |
| #43 | Kansas | 17 camps |
| #44 | Louisiana | 16 camps |
| #45 | Mississippi | 15 camps |
| #46 | Hawaii | 8 camps |
| #47 | North Dakota | 5 camps |
| #48 | Nevada | 4 camps |
Only the 48 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: recreational and vacation camps except campgrounds (NAICS 721214), establishments by state (opens in a new tab) (2026-08-08) — 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). NAICS 721214 covers establishments operating overnight recreational camps — children's camps, family vacation camps, hunting and fishing camps and outdoor adventure retreats — that provide accommodation such as cabins and fixed campsites; RV parks and campgrounds are classified separately (721211). CBP does not cover most government employers, so camps run by federal, state or local agencies are largely outside this count. 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 721214 (Recreational and Vacation Camps except Campgrounds) and read ESTAB (number of establishments) for 2022 by state.