We went on the search to discover America’s top vacation destination in 2020, and decided to go straight to the source. We asked our 1.5 million monthly readers and our 900k+ Facebook fans — and the results are in! We ranked the U.S. states by overall votes. We also collected feedback about why that state is at the top of the list, and which city within that state people are heading to.
Top 10: U.S. States with the Most Overall Votes
1. Hawaii
2. California
3. Colorado
4. Florida
5. Louisiana
6. Alaska
7. New York
8. Oregon
9. Arizona
10. Washington
Hawaii
Sitting at the top spot of the list is Hawaii. Honolulu received the greatest number of votes when asked for a specific city, but Maui came in a very close second.
Reasons for Going: 73% of Hawaii respondents said it has been on their list for a long time, with 20% claiming they had been there before.
Activities: The activities were unsurprisingly all related to the outdoors with hiking, snorkeling, camping, sightseeing and “relaxing,” all common answers. Many “Bucket List” activities made the cut as well, including “tour a volcano,” “take a helicopter ride,” “swim with dolphins,” and “skydiving.”
Likelihood of Going: 17% who chose Hawaii claimed they will “Definitely Go” in 2020, but 29% said there is a “Very Small Chance.”
California
California snagged the #2 spot, and Los Angeles was the top city named by those who chose California, with San Diego and San Francisco coming in second and third, respectively.
Reasons for Going: 36% of participants said they had family in California, and, 31% said they have been to the state already and love going there.
Activities: 8% of those who chose California listed “Surfing” as the activity they had in mind when making their choice, and another 8% said the various theme parks were on the agenda.
Likelihood of Going: The percentage of those who say they “Definitely will visit” is higher for California than Hawaii at 34%.
Colorado
Rounding out the top three is Colorado. Its capital, Denver, received the most overall votes for any city in our survey.
Reasons for Going: 58% of those who chose Colorado included “I’ve heard there is plenty to see and do,” in their list of reasons for visiting, and 23% said they have been before and it’s one of their favorite destinations. Other reasons listed include researching a potential move at 5%.
Activities: The Colorado activities were predominantly outdoorsy including skiing, whitewater rafting, and 36% specifically stated hiking as their main activity. Checking out the food scene and visiting breweries made a showing as well at 7%.
Likelihood of Going: 15% said they will “Definitely Go,” in 2020.
Top 10 U.S. Cities with the Most Overall Votes:
1. Denver
2. New Orleans
3. Portland
4. Honolulu
5. New York City
6. Seattle
7. Maui
8. Los Angeles
9. Las Vegas
10. Nashville
These cities may not correspond with the top states that received the most number of votes, but they were the clear winners among surveyed users. This indicates that the top states have a less concentrated amount of visitors to one particular area when compared to the states with the top cities.
As previously mentioned, Denver received more votes than any other city. And while Louisiana took the 5th place spot in our results, New Orleans was the second most named city.
Other highlights from our survey:
• 6% of those surveyed said they hadn’t decided to which specific city they were headed
• 20% of those surveyed overall listed “hiking” as a reason they chose their destination
• 24% of those surveyed said they are “Definitely” traveling to the state they chose
