America’s Most Cursed States Ranked

There’s spooky, and then there’s statistically unfortunate. With Halloween around the corner, we left the costume aisle behind and went looking for bad luck in the records. Turns out, Montana is America’s most cursed state.

The data draws on NOAA storm records and USGS earthquake reports from 2000–2025, alongside NASA’s historical meteorite falls. Alaska, for instance, accounts for more than half the earthquake count, while Texas somehow manages to check 18 of 20 hazard boxes. Meanwhile, Washington’s 727 Bigfoot reports make for one appropriately weird Halloween footnote.

Key Findings

Montana is America’s most cursed state, scoring 60.14 out of 100. It recorded 1,964 winter-storm episodes and ranks in the national top five for eight hazard rates.
More than half of every in-state magnitude 4.0+ earthquake in the study happened in Alaska. Its 1,606 earthquakes account for 52.1% of the nationwide total
Texas (5th overall) qualifies in 18 of 20 hazard categories, more than any other state, but none of its individual hazard rates reaches the national top five
Ninth overall, South Dakota still manages to rank in the national top five for 10 hazards, including four number-one finishes for hail, thunderstorm wind, flood and flash flood.
Washington has the most reported Bigfoot encounters, with 727 reports documented by the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO).

The Top Five

Montana Is America’s #1 Most Cursed State

Montana owes its place atop the cursed state ranking to the relentless variety of ways nature can turn hostile. From 2000 to 2025, there were 1,964 winter storm episodes, enough to rank third in the country after adjusting for population. One late-September storm in 2019 alone dumped 52 inches on Babb and broke Great Falls’ 24-hour snowfall record with 17.7 inches.

Big Sky Country leads all 50 states for recurring natural misfortune, the heaviest weighted part of our index. Eight separate hazards make the national top five:

Hazard	Episodes	National rate rank
Winter storm	1,964	3
High wind	1,642	3
Hail	1,672	5
Thunderstorm wind	1,486	5
Extreme cold	141	3
Wildfire	177	4
Avalanche	50	3
Ice storm	25	3

Alaska: #2, the Earthquake Capital

Alaska comes in second, and no other entry has a calling card quite like it. Of the 3,084 magnitude 4.0+ earthquakes counted with epicenters inside a U.S. state from 2000 through 2025, more than half, 1,606 to be exact, happened right here. The Alaska Earthquake Center traces all that shaking to one brutal bit of geography where the Pacific Plate is forced beneath the North American Plate.

Above ground, no less than five hazards have the country’s highest population-adjusted rates, and four more are right behind in second.

Hazard	Episodes	National rate rank
Earthquake (M4.0+)	1,606	1
Winter storm	1,756	1
Extreme cold	144	1
Ice storm	63	1
Coastal flood	53	1
High wind	1,457	2
Flood	331	2
Avalanche	65	2
High surf	20	2

Alabama: #3, Cursed 17 Different Ways

The curse of Alabama is having almost every box checked, 17 of 20 hazard types in all, second only to Texas. Sometimes everything piles on at once. On May 20, 2025, the northern part of the state was hammered by an outbreak involving 14 tornadoes, hail at least baseball size, damaging winds and flash flooding. A lightning strike also sparked the fire that destroyed Albertville Public Library.

Tropical storms account for a big share of the damage, Hurricane Ivan among them after slamming the Gulf Coast as a Category 3 in 2004, and 77 episodes in all work out to the second-highest rate in the country for a population that size, behind Mississippi.

Interestingly, despite ranking third overall, Alabama does not take first place in a single hazard category.

Hazard	Episodes	National rate rank
Tropical storm	77	2
Waterspout	17	3
Hurricane	10	4
Lightning	487	5
Rip current	47	5

Oregon: #4, Cursed by the Waves

Oregon’s number four spot comes from two very different kinds of trouble. Along the coast, high surf gets worse in Hawaii and Alaska, but nowhere else. 104 episodes from 2000 through 2025 put it third nationwide once population is taken into account. Even near the end of the data period in November 2025, the Pacific was still flexing hard enough for the National Weather Service to warn that 25 to 30 foot breakers could sweep people off rocks and jetties.

Moving inland, Oregon had 549 wildfire episodes, the fifth most in the country relative to population. Then came 2024, when nearly 1.9 million acres went up in flames. Nothing bigger had been documented since reliable statewide records began in 1992.

The number four finish also gets plenty of help from variety as 16 of the 20 core hazard types appear in the record, fifth among all 50. Unusual natural events place second nationally, while five freak categories among the seven tracked, including avalanches and dust devils, logged at least three episodes.

Texas: #5, a Curse for Every Occasion

Speaking of variety, Texas would be first if that were the whole ranking. It qualifies in 18 of the 20 categories, more than any other state. Not one of them, however, make the national top five. Hurricanes get closest, with 19 episodes putting them ninth nationally, followed by dust storms and rip currents, both at twelfth. Another two reasons for the fifth-place finish are 78 magnitude 4.0+ earthquakes and 12 recorded meteorite falls.

Full 50-State Ranking

The table below shows how all 50 fare in the cursed states ranking, from the roughest showing down to the bottom. We also flagged the hazard that puts each one in its weakest national position.

Rank	State	Score out of 100	Curse	What stands out
1	Montana	60.14	Winter storm	1,964 winter-storm episodes
2	Alaska	59.36	Winter storm	More in-state earthquakes than the other 49 states combined
3	Alabama	59.23	Tropical storm	17 of 20 hazard types
4	Oregon	54.48	High surf	104 high-surf episodes
5	Texas	54.31	Hurricane	The only state with 18 of 20 hazards
6	New Mexico	54.03	Dust storm	84 dust-storm episodes
7	Arkansas	54.02	Heat	Leads the country on its heat rate
8	Idaho	52.39	Wildfire	374 wildfire episodes
9	South Dakota	51.52	Hail	Top five for 10 hazards
10	South Carolina	51.03	Rip current	75 rip-current episodes
11	Wyoming	50.84	High wind	1,474 high-wind episodes
12	North Carolina	50.37	Rip current	139 rip-current episodes
13	Virginia	50.31	Coastal flood	107 coastal-flood episodes
14	Colorado	50.28	Avalanche	236 avalanche episodes
15	Washington	49.90	Avalanche	727 Bigfoot reports, not part of the score
16	Kansas	49.60	Dust storm	72 dust-storm episodes
17	Nevada	48.63	Dust devil	30 dust-devil episodes
18	California	48.57	High surf	Widest mix of unusual events, 6 of 7
19	Hawaii	47.55	High surf	892 high-surf episodes
20	Oklahoma	45.40	Heat	252 heat episodes
21	Wisconsin	45.02	Extreme cold	176 extreme-cold episodes
22	Maine	44.83	Coastal flood	77 coastal-flood episodes
23	Mississippi	44.19	Tropical storm	48 tropical-storm episodes
24	Nebraska	43.95	Tornado	599 tornado episodes
25	Delaware	43.53	Lightning	108 lightning episodes
26	Louisiana	43.41	Hurricane	24 hurricane episodes
27	Florida	42.46	Waterspout	223 waterspout episodes
28	Arizona	40.60	Dust storm	441 dust-storm episodes
29	Georgia	39.90	Hurricane	11 hurricane episodes
30	North Dakota	37.67	Tornado	383 tornado episodes
31	Utah	35.82	Avalanche	82 avalanche episodes
32	Missouri	34.00	Heat	333 heat episodes
33	Indiana	33.60	Rip current	23 rip-current episodes
34	Iowa	33.22	Flood	864 flood episodes
35	Maryland	32.14	Coastal flood	142 coastal-flood episodes
36	Minnesota	31.55	Extreme cold	335 extreme-cold episodes
37	New Jersey	31.35	Rip current	86 rip-current episodes
38	Illinois	30.86	Extreme cold	194 extreme-cold episodes
39	New York	30.29	Rip current	44 rip-current episodes
40	Kentucky	30.15	Flood	1,093 flood episodes
41	West Virginia	30.05	Ice storm	61 ice-storm episodes
42	Vermont	29.99	Lightning	68 lightning episodes
43	New Hampshire	28.02	Lightning	141 lightning episodes
44	Pennsylvania	26.57	Ice storm	79 ice-storm episodes
45	Tennessee	26.23	Tropical storm	26 tropical-storm episodes
46	Michigan	23.03	Rip current	41 rip-current episodes
47	Massachusetts	22.30	Coastal flood	71 coastal-flood episodes
48	Rhode Island	21.76	Coastal flood	11 coastal-flood episodes
49	Connecticut	18.52	Tropical storm	11 tropical-storm episodes
50	Ohio	15.52	Flood	886 flood episodes

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A Glimpse into the Strangest Curses

Cursed 10 Different Ways

South Dakota shows up a whopping ten times in the national top five, more than anywhere else. Four even reach number one, them being thunderstorm wind, flood, flash flood and hail. The latter, chances are, is what locals talk about most. A 2010 supercell near Vivian dropped a hailstone measuring eight inches across and nearly two pounds, breaking U.S. records for both diameter and weight at the time.

Hazard	Episodes	National rate rank
Hail	4,523	1
Thunderstorm wind	3,009	1
Flood	702	1
Flash flood	431	1
Tornado	395	2
Lightning	90	3
Extreme cold	106	4
High wind	578	4
Winter storm	851	5
Ice storm	19	5

Bigfoot Country

If Bigfoot’s from anywhere, you’d have to put your money on Washington. As of October 6, 2026, BFRO had logged 727 unverified reports there. We didn’t count any of that toward the ranking, though. The Evergreen State took 15th overall, and avalanches were the defining curse.

However, 727 claimed Bigfoot sightings is more than Texas and Florida combined; no other state comes close per person. Hawaii, meanwhile, had zero. Washington’s association goes back decades, especially around its mountains and Pacific coast. Skamania County even passed a 1969 ordinance against harming a Sasquatch.

Meteorites That Fell

NASA’s meteorite database uses the label “fell” for space rocks seen or recorded coming down between 1807 and 2012. Texas logged the most, 12 in all, and Kansas seven. Maine had just four, but once you account for the population, that works out to 2.83 per million residents. One of those, the 1898 Andover fall, was reportedly witnessed from about 25 feet away.

Dust Devils and Dust Storms

The Southwest gets two versions of dust trouble. Nevada leads the smaller, spinning kind, logging 30 dust-devil episodes. New Mexico is next on 16. Despite the name, these don’t require particularly sinister weather. The National Weather Service says one can form under sunny skies and light winds once the ground gets hot enough to warm the air above.

In Arizona, haboobs often form when thunderstorm winds race across desert ground and kick up towering dirt walls. Those, alongside events stirred by cold fronts or other strong airflow, helped account for about 40% of dust storms across the U.S., totaling 441 from 2000 through 2025. Second again is New Mexico with 84 episodes.

Waterspouts and Volcanic Ash

The Florida Keys are so waterspout-prone, research puts their frequency above anywhere else in the world. The next busiest U.S. stretch is the southeast coast between Stuart and Homestead. Our data has 223 episodes across the Sunshine State, about 69% of the country’s total.

Hawaii, meanwhile, accounted for 10 of the national sample’s 14 volcanic ash records. Kīlauea’s 2018 eruption sent ash more than 10,000 feet into the air and over downwind communities. As for the Hawaii curse in this ranking, that title goes to high surf. The state finished 19th overall.

So, Is Your State Cursed?

Depends what it takes, in your book, to call a state cursed. One thing’s for sure, though, anywhere you look, there’s at least one thing counting against the place.

Comparatively, Ohio, Connecticut and Rhode Island got off pretty lightly across most categories. Montana, on the other hand, drew the short straw here. Eight separate hazards rank among the five worst in the country, from winter storms and extreme cold to wildfire and avalanches.

Alaska and Alabama follow close behind, both pulled upward by problems spanning several fronts. Texas then qualifies in 18 of 20 hazard categories, more than anywhere else, while South Dakota made the national five across 10 hazards.

And since we’re very much in the Halloween spirit, Washington, despite not ranking among the top 10 most haunted states, deserves a mention for all those Bigfoot reports. Maybe the bigger problem is that none of those counted toward the score, yet it still came in 15th, well inside the first third of America’s cursed state ranking.

How the Ranking Was Built

To rank America's most cursed states, we analyzed NOAA Storm Events and USGS earthquake records from 2000–2025, alongside historical NASA meteorite falls (1807–2012) and U.S. Census Bureau population data.

Each state received a Cursed Score out of 100, based on five weighted factors:

Recurring natural misfortune: 68%
Variety of natural misfortune: 15%
Earthquake misfortune: 10%
Unusual natural misfortune: 5% (frequency 3.75%, variety 1.25%)
Recorded meteorite falls: 2%

NOAA events were grouped into 20 hazard categories, with duplicate reports across counties and forecast zones removed. Event frequencies were adjusted using summed annual populations (person-years) from 2000–2025 for NOAA and earthquakes, while meteorites used July 1, 2025 population. Variety measures required at least three recorded episodes per category.

Each state's primary curse reflects its strongest population-adjusted hazard ranking, requiring at least 10 episodes in both the state and nationwide.

The ranking covers all 50 states and measures documented events, not deaths, injuries, damage, or future risk. Bigfoot reports were sourced from the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO) on for interest only and did not affect the score. Only observed meteorite falls were counted.

Charlon is an iGaming specialist with hands-on industry experience dating back to 2019. He started at Paddy Power™ before going freelance to work on content across the space. Online casinos, sweepstakes, sports betting, and prediction markets are all areas he has covered. Poker was always something he kept coming back to, spending time in real-money games and picking up on how players approach different spots, which gradually fed into his work. Recently, Charlon passed the 1,000 mark for published pieces online.

America’s Most Cursed States: 26 Years of Natural Hazards Ranked