Some people see a strange light in the sky and shrug it off. Others report missing time, close encounters, or a night they still can’t explain. According to a new map, Arizona is one of the states where those stories show up the most and is one of the alien hotspots in the U.S.
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A new ranking from CSB places Arizona among America’s alien “hotspots,” based on where abduction-style UFO reports appear most often. The map highlights states where people describe encounters that go beyond casual sightings — the kind that leave you wondering what just happened.
New Hampshire and Idaho sit at the very top of the rankings, with Vermont, Maine, Oregon, and Washington close behind, but Arizona’s consistent appearances make it one of the country’s most notable hotspots — especially given its long history of UFO lore.
“People assume these reports are random,” said a CSB analyst. “But when you map them out, the same states keep showing up — which says more about reporting patterns than anything else.”
The ranking doesn’t claim aliens are real or that abductions are actually happening. Instead, it tracks where Americans are most likely to report experiences that sound like an abduction story — and turns that pattern into a simple, visual ranking.
America’s top alien hotspots (ranked)
- New Hampshire
- Idaho
- Vermont
- Maine
- Oregon
- Washington
- Montana
- Wyoming
- Arizona
- Connecticut
Methodology: Ranks states by how often Americans report abduction-style UFO encounters, adjusted for population.
Sources: National UFO Reporting Center, U.S. Census Bureau.
