Report: Salt Lake City has most gamers per capita

Scarborough Research ranks US regions in terms of percentage of households that own a gaming system; Utah capital takes first, Florida brings in the rear.

There's no doubt that the US has embraced gaming in the industry's rise to the mainstream, but which cities get their game on more than others? Research firm Scarborough Research sought to answer that question by finding out which metropolitan regions had the highest percentage of console-owning households.

Across the US as a whole, Scarborough Research found that 24 percent of American homes own a gaming console. A list of Scarborough Research's findings by region is below.

America's game mecca?

Leading the list was Salt Lake City, Utah, with 32 percent of homes owning at least one "video game system." Lexington, Kentucky, Flint, Michigan, and Toledo, Ohio, were right behind Salt Lake City with 30 percent of households owning a gaming system, and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Norfolk/Portsmouth/Newport News, Virginia, were in third with 29 percent.

Bringing up the rear were four regions from the Sunshine State, suggesting that warm weather and beaches are gamers' kryptonite. The Fort Meyers/Naples, Florida, area was dead last with only 15 percent of households picking up a controller. Miami/Ft. Lauderdale ended up second to last with 19 percent, and West Palm Beach/Fort Pierce and Tampa/St. Petersburg tied for third to last with 20 percent.

Scarborough also researched retailers and discovered that Wal-Mart is the number one audio/video retailer for US gaming households to make a purchase (the research did not say the purchase had to be game-related). One-third of households that own a console "have made a purchase" at the megaretailer in the past year. Best Buy (30 percent), Target (16 percent), Circuit City (15 percent), and Radio Shack (7 percent) rounded out the top five audio/video stores.

City or Region / Percentage of console-owning homes
Salt Lake City / 32
Lexington / 30
Flint/Saginaw/Bay City / 30
Toledo / 30
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton / 29
Norfolk/Portsmouth/Newport News / 29
Indianapolis / 28
Green Bay/Appleton / 28
Atlanta / 28
Sacramento/Stockton/Modesto / 28
Chicago / 27
Tulsa / 27
Wichita/Hutchinson / 27
Baltimore / 27
Syracuse / 26
Honolulu / 26
Denver / 26
Cincinnati / 26
Rochester / 26
Portland / 26
Greensboro/High Point/Winston-Salem / 26
Mobile/Pensacola / 26
Las Vegas / 26
Oklahoma City / 25
Birmingham / 25
Providence/New Bedford / 25
Kansas City / 25
Houston / 25
Des Moines/Ames / 25
Charleston/Huntington / 25
Detroit / 25
Columbus / 25
Raleigh/Durham / 25
Albany/Schenectady/Troy / 25
Austin / 25
Seattle/Tacoma / 25
Nashville / 25
Louisville / 24
Washington, DC / 24
Fresno/Visalia / 24
Pittsburgh / 24
Dayton / 24
Cleveland/Akron / 24
Memphis / 24
Dallas/Fort Worth / 24
Phoenix / 24
Roanoke/Lynchburg / 24
Grand Rapids/Kalamazoo/Battle Creek / 24
Philadelphia / 23
San Diego / 23
Los Angeles / 23
Buffalo / 23
San Antonio / 23
Milwaukee / 23
Jacksonville / 23
El Paso / 22
New York / 22
Minneapolis/St. Paul / 22
Knoxville / 22
Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville/Anderson / 22
St. Louis / 21
Harrisburg/Lancaster/Lebanon/York / 21
Boston / 21
Spokane / 21
Orlando/Daytona Beach/Melbourne / 21
Albuquerque/Santa Fe / 21
Richmond/Petersburg / 21
Hartford/New Haven / 21
San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose / 21
Charlotte / 20
Tucson / 20
West Palm Beach/Fort Pierce / 20
Tampa/St.Petersburg / 20
Miami/Ft.Lauderdale / 19
Fort Myers/Naples / 15

116 Comments

  • Sharvie

    Posted Mar 17, 2007 8:59 am PT

    "Florida brings in the rear."

  • zsc4

    Posted Mar 16, 2007 11:44 pm PT

    Nice, Shame on Florida

  • Vectorcade

    Posted Mar 16, 2007 7:03 pm PT

    I live in SLC (well, West Valley to be more precise but it's all the same) and it's not too suprising. I own tons of game systems from the 2600 to the Wii and most everyone I know here has a couple of game systems in their home. It's pretty easy to find classic games in the thrift stores here. This also might explain why the arcade scene in the Salt Lake valley is pretty alive when in other places around the country it isn't doing that well.

  • pieyow

    Posted Mar 16, 2007 2:51 pm PT

    Exactly Kfoss, that's exactly my point. What's the critieria? What age bracket was the survey done upon? Was the same amount of people chosen from every city surveyed? Etc...

  • pieyow

    Posted Mar 16, 2007 2:48 pm PT

    netolic: 23 percent of LA's 4 million people is still over 800,000 people alone. I'm sure the survey didn't account every single household. I'd like to know how they gathered their data. Since right now it's all misleading. I'd feel different if we were comparing similar city sizes to each other. But their not.

  • lzorro

    Posted Mar 16, 2007 12:32 pm PT

    DAMN!!! Chicago missed the top 10 by 1!

  • Kfoss

    Posted Mar 16, 2007 10:53 am PT

    Whhhaaaaa.... what do they classify as a "video gameing system" and how is that baised on per capita population?...32% of what for SLC... what population number?..the people there or the same amount for all cities across the nation..and how many were polled...and who was polled...its not im surprised im just tired of studies that dont list there controls

  • jaredgood1

    Posted Mar 16, 2007 7:56 am PT

    SLC: More gamer per capita than any other city
    Utah: One of the lowest violent crime rates in the country

    Hmmmm, that couldn't have anything to do with that whole thing about Mormons teaching the importance of having a close knit family, could it?

  • Sonicgod

    Posted Mar 15, 2007 10:01 pm PT

    Sounds about right I live in utah I have owned all game consoles since the atari 2600.

    Everybody I know has at least one and It is not hard to not see one somewhere. Every kid I knew in school way back had one. There is a game shop of some type nearly on every corner and even super markets sell and rent games here.

    Mentioning you have a game system get an excited look rather than stares and I have no problem finding people to play wireless with the DS at cafe.


    and most are not mormans I am not.

  • VengenceZero

    Posted Mar 15, 2007 9:58 pm PT

    I guess louisville did good. Go Cardinals! But baltimore dissapoints me

  • morrow4

    Posted Mar 15, 2007 9:04 pm PT

    "that's actually surprising. most mormons are against any kind of violence. they must really go for the nintendo."
    well at least the adults dont like violence in games. im mormon and i play all kinds of violent games but its prolly cuz im a teenager.

  • robfield

    Posted Mar 15, 2007 7:53 pm PT

    Wow...Utah? You would think of a more urbanized area. Though Salt Lake is a pretty big city

  • phillangees

    Posted Mar 15, 2007 7:46 pm PT

    Yeah...I'm shocked that the mormons are playing the games!...
    Pardon me whilst I play me a little God of War 2.

    SLC for teh win.

  • coolcool23

    Posted Mar 15, 2007 7:15 pm PT

    I feel ashamed to live in Milwaukee / 23.

    I mean, I have a gamecube, xbox and ps3 as well as a psp, so I'm trying to do my part!!!!!

  • Malganis1111

    Posted Mar 15, 2007 7:08 pm PT

    Hey guess what im a mormon and i live in SLC and im not against violence i do partake of video games, i own a wii adn 360 including gears of war, zelda, lostplanet, and alot of other games.

  • theKSMM

    Posted Mar 15, 2007 7:08 pm PT

    So it's agreed then. The LAN party will be in Salt Lake City this year.

    Actually I'm more surprised by those store numbers than the city rankings. Wal-Mart on top is not surprising. Their reach in small towns and rural areas is unmatched.

    That Best Buy had twice the percentage that Circuit City does *is* surprising. I've always found Circuit City more accessible in the places I've shopped. If I didn't pass a Circuit City on my way to Best Buy, there was one near the BB store. Seeing those numbers, GameSpot's decision to post sales data from BB doesn't seem so absurd.

  • Merl57

    Posted Mar 15, 2007 6:59 pm PT

    i thought mormans dont partake in living ie games

  • andrewlkt

    Posted Mar 15, 2007 6:23 pm PT

    Is anybody else surprised by Florida having the fewest? It's a known fact that most senior citizens don't care about these newfangled things the young uns play.

  • TiRoSu13

    Posted Mar 15, 2007 6:02 pm PT

    Sweet, I live in Toledo, OH.

  • duque501

    Posted Mar 15, 2007 5:41 pm PT

    The more boring the city is, more console per homes will be, within this cold and nothing to do cities consoles are a necesity, the other cities have beachs and girls walking wearing short skirts, who needs a console over there?

  • Jared_Vegeta

    Posted Mar 15, 2007 5:13 pm PT

    Woot for Greenville/Spartunburg/Anderson County. Thats weird seeing that up there. Who would of known, upstate SC.

  • frogiggy323

    Posted Mar 15, 2007 4:41 pm PT

    #9 Atlanta! Sweet!! I live two hours away in Augusta, but yeah it's close enough.

  • ArchAngel2284

    Posted Mar 15, 2007 4:11 pm PT

    wow utah. what a joke lol

  • griffdogg78

    Posted Mar 15, 2007 4:02 pm PT

    Rochester #19 baby : P

  • Silenthps

    Posted Mar 15, 2007 3:35 pm PT

    damn i live in ft. lauderdale. second to last lol

  • DrKill09

    Posted Mar 15, 2007 3:31 pm PT

    They have a lot of gamers cause their "beer" is only 2%! Can't drink real beer, so all that is left to do is game.

  • aldrenar47

    Posted Mar 15, 2007 3:25 pm PT

    The lesson here is that old people dont care for gol-derned fancy contraptions like game-playin' machines

  • cricketboy2238

    Posted Mar 15, 2007 3:12 pm PT

    Of course Ft. Myers doesn't have any video game consoles, it's all snowbirds and old people, except for East Ft. Myers which isn't the richest place on earth by any stretch of the imagination.

    I'm also wondering if these numbers are for the city proper or the metro, because if it were the metro then Detroit probably would have ranked higher. I grew up in suburban Detroit and basically everyone I know had a video game system.

  • 04JETTA

    Posted Mar 15, 2007 3:11 pm PT

    THATS INSANE!!!!!

  • stephbm6

    Posted Mar 15, 2007 3:08 pm PT

    SLC? I live there and it's hard to believe that we beat out NY or LA.

  • paullywog

    Posted Mar 15, 2007 3:05 pm PT

    that's actually surprising. most mormons are against any kind of violence. they must really go for the nintendo.

  • Batalskar

    Posted Mar 15, 2007 3:04 pm PT

    Its FT. MYERS not meyers =P Hooray im in the itsy bitsy minority, nice to see a shout out for Naples though. If any of you have ever heard of Naples then yes the rumors are true, snowbirds during season, ghosttown during the summer. I would like to meet the other 14 people that play games around here =P

  • nobeaner

    Posted Mar 15, 2007 3:04 pm PT

    WOOHOO! Go Sactown.

    Sacramento/Stockton/Modesto / 28

  • BurningChrome

    Posted Mar 15, 2007 3:03 pm PT

    Heres to Denver(my new hometown!) in the top 6-YEA!!
    LEEERRRRROOOOYY JEENNNNKINNNS!!

  • prioritymail

    Posted Mar 15, 2007 3:00 pm PT

    Hey!, Im one of the 19 percent in the Miami/Ft Lauderdale area!!!
    Wooooot!!!

  • Flame_Blade88

    Posted Mar 15, 2007 2:59 pm PT

    Good for them.

  • TryMe01

    Posted Mar 15, 2007 2:47 pm PT

    although it is interesting, the stats aint enough to change anything

  • BLAZEXIII

    Posted Mar 15, 2007 2:47 pm PT

    Oh and west jordan is not even more than ten miles way from slc so it's pretty much all the same area.....SLC 4 EVA!!!!

  • BLAZEXIII

    Posted Mar 15, 2007 2:44 pm PT

    Hey whats up everyone ....well me being from west jordan utah and thats where i currently reside, i will tell you that yes...it seems like everyone around here is a gamer ...i mean people everywhere are starting to play games, and thats cause it's just not like it used to be way back in 86.....games are much different now ...so yeah especially in the winter time i mean EVERYONE!! stays indoors and plays games ....it's either that or go snowboarding or ski'ing and stay in the warmth of your home and play your xbox or playstation thats pretty much it and im glad they posted this because it's the truth

  • gamecube120

    Posted Mar 15, 2007 2:40 pm PT

    Woah, I missed over another stat up there...Green Bay/Appleton (WI) is toward the top, too! I was born in Appleton. Man, everywhere I go, gaming follows

  • gamecube120

    Posted Mar 15, 2007 2:37 pm PT

    Puppy0: EXACTLY

    Oh, and whoever denies that there are sexy girls in Utah hasn't met a mormon woman yet. Holy s#!t

  • Generic_Dude

    Posted Mar 15, 2007 2:35 pm PT

    Wow, SLC pwning in the owning department. Who woulda thunk? WOW, and Fort Pierce, FL getting in an article for something other than murders and crack!? Unheard of! Fort Pierce, FTW! Looks like I'm in that 20%, w00t w00t!

  • ZeroWil

    Posted Mar 15, 2007 2:26 pm PT

    While this indeed somewhat surprising.
    It doesn't mean there are more people who have video game consoles in SLC than a city like say, NYC or Los Angeles. Since these 2 cities are larger than SLC (I'm not sure about LA though :p)
    Nonetheless, pretty interesting stuff.

  • Puppy0

    Posted Mar 15, 2007 2:23 pm PT

    I would like to see some statistical explanation of this. Most people posting really don't understand 'Per Capita'. Out of every 100 people living in the city, X number of people own a console. As someone else said, it's simple math! I bet if you look at the percentage of people under 18, percentage of people from 18 - 24, etc.. you will find a high correlation between the percentage of young people and the percentage of console ownership. For example, in SLC (my hometown) 23.6% of the population was under 18 years old in the 2000 census. SLC has the youngest population in the nation! I don't think this study has as much to do with the the cities nightlife as it does with the cities demographic.

  • zymase

    Posted Mar 15, 2007 2:23 pm PT

    Plenty of good looking women here too, sigma8... come by and take a look sometime. And yeah, I am proud of it.

  • brerrabbit23

    Posted Mar 15, 2007 2:18 pm PT

    with so much drama in the SLC...

  • John_of_Fire

    Posted Mar 15, 2007 2:17 pm PT

    Honolulu / 26 so much for that beach comment

  • Led_poison

    Posted Mar 15, 2007 2:12 pm PT

    meh, thats just in America

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