Where Data Tells the Story
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Only 32 of the 268 American-born Nobel laureates won their prize in the state where they were born. That’s 12%.
Most ended up in a few research hubs. California, Massachusetts, New York, Illinois, and New Jersey hosted 74% of U.S.-based winners. California had the most at 104, yet only 18 of them were born there.
Per capita, Massachusetts stands out with 13.7 laureates per million residents, about 2.5 times California’s rate. New York produced the most laureates overall (68). D.C. has the highest rate of laureates born, at 11.4 per million, though that’s just 7 people.
And 144 of the 406 laureates working in the U.S. (35%) were born in another country.
Covers the physics, chemistry, medicine, and economics prizes from 1901 to 2025. Rates use each state’s average census population from 1910 to 2020.