Think your home courts are packed? They might feel crowded, but compared to other parts of the country, they may not be nearly as busy as you think.

There’s no question that pickleball popularity isn’t evenly distributed. Certain regions have become clear hotspots. Florida, for instance, is home to a large percentage of pro players, while states like Texas, Arizona, California, and Utah have built strong reputations as pickleball hubs.

But which state truly stands above the rest as the most pickleball-obsessed?

Researchers at Canada Sports Betting recently set out to answer that question, analyzing all 50 U.S. states along with 13 Canadian provinces. Their goal: create a “pickleball obsession index” to determine where enthusiasm for the sport is at its peak.

To build the index, they combined three weighted factors:

- Pickleball venues per 100,000 residents (50% of the score)
- Annual search volume per 100,000 residents (30%)
- Regional interest based on Google Trends data (20%)

Each region received a score out of 10 in every category, benchmarked against the top-performing area in North America. Those scores were then combined into a final ranking from 1 to 64.

So, which state claimed the top spot?

Hawaii.

With 522 courts and 11.24 venues per 100,000 residents, Hawaii led the way in court availability. It also earned a perfect Google Trends score of 100 and generated 18,400 annual pickleball-related searches. The result: a commanding lead as North America’s most pickleball-obsessed region.

So while your local courts might feel busy, somewhere out there—especially in Hawaii—the pickleball craze is operating on an entirely different level.

Several top pickleball pros hail from Hawaii, including rising PPA Tour talents Kiora Kunimoto and Tama Shimabukuro. Both players have spoken about just how deeply the sport is embedded in the culture back home, reinforcing Hawaii’s spot at the top of the list.

Beyond the obvious hotspots, a few rankings raised eyebrows.

Utah checked in at No. 3 overall, with Vermont right behind it. And while Utah’s growing pickleball scene has been on the radar, Vermont’s placement may come as a surprise. It’s not exactly the first place people think of when it comes to pickleball buzz.

Maybe it’s time for the PPA Tour to make a stop there and see firsthand just how strong the obsession really is.

It was no surprise to see Florida land inside the top 10. With some of the biggest PPA and MLP tour stops drawing strong crowds, and a large concentration of pros calling the state home, the Sunshine State has firmly established itself as a pickleball powerhouse.

Washington, however, was a bit more unexpected. As the birthplace of pickleball on Bainbridge Island, you might assume it would rank among the very top. While it didn’t quite crack the top 10, it still came in at a respectable No. 13.

One of the more interesting takeaways? The top 10 was evenly split between U.S. states and Canadian provinces, underscoring that pickleball’s growth isn’t limited to the United States.

North of the border, the top-ranked provinces were Prince Edward Island, British Columbia, Ontario, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick—further proof that the sport’s popularity is thriving across Canada as well.

Canada’s strong showing reinforces a bigger point: pickleball is no longer just an American pastime, it’s rapidly gaining traction beyond U.S. borders. The sport’s momentum is clearly spreading north, with Canadian communities embracing it at a high level.

And for fans in those regions, that growth is being matched with opportunity. PPA Tour Canada has already established several notable stops across these pickleball-obsessed provinces, bringing high-level competition directly to an eager audience.

All signs point in one direction: the game isn’t slowing down anytime soon.

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