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Flyover States [Updated August 2023]
In the United States, some travelers use the term "flyover states" to describe a specific region of the United States. Although some people define the term differently, it's commonly defined as the interior region or geographic center of the United States located between the East and West Coasts. This includes the Midwest, Great Plains, and Mountain States.
These states are known as flyover states because most travelers fly over these states without touching down when traveling from coast to coast. The term "flyover country" is also used when American travelers fly over a country and view it by air without landing in the country. To determine the most common flyover states, ChampionTraveler conducted a study analyzing the ratio of destination flights to flyovers.
This data showed that West Virginia is the most flown-over state. According to the data, there were nearly 2,400 flights to the state compared to over 466,000 flights over the state, a flyover-to-destination ratio of 195.4.
The next state on the list is Kansas. Kansas had over 9,700 flights to the state compared to over 507,000 flights over the state. This is a flyover-to-destination ratio of 52.3, a fraction of West Virginia's.
In third place, Mississippi had over 10,000 flights to the state compared to over 423,000 flights over the state. Other flyover states on this list include: Iowa, Kentucky, Wyoming, Virginia, New Mexico, Arkansas, Alabama, South Dakota, and Nebraska.
- As the designation "flyover state" is unofficial, the list of flyover states will vary from source to source.
- A "flyover ratio" is a statistical measure of the ratio of flights that fly over a state compared to the number of flights for which that state is the destination. A higher flyover ratio implies that a state is a flyover state.
- However, flyover ratio is influenced by geography. For example, a state such as Maine, tucked away in the northeast, is so rarely flown over that its flyover rate cannot be calculated. By comparison, states such as Alabama and Utah may have an inflated flyover ratio due to their proximity to popular destinations such as Florida and California.