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Which states have won the Miss USA pageant the most times? Which states have never won?
The 73rd annual Miss USA beauty pageant will be held this weekend - a celebration of beauty, intelligence, and empowerment. Which states have produced the most winners?
The annual Miss USA pageant competition will be held on Sunday 4 August with current title holder Savannah Gankiewicz in charge of crowning Miss USA 2024. The 73rd edition of the event, which takes place at Los Angeles’ Peacock Theater, will be hosted by Keltie Knight and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Garcelle Beauvais.
This year’s panel of judges will feature Scheana Shay, Gavin DeGraw, Anastasia Soare, Natasha Graziano, NJ Falk and two former winners - Miss USA 1994 Lu Parker and Miss USA 1990 Carole Gist.
The first Miss USA
From Brooklyn-born Jackie Loughery, the first to be crowned Miss USA in 1952, to Savannah Gankiewicz, there have been winners from practically every 50 state. Gankiewicz took the title last year after Noelia Voigt (the first Venezuelan American to win), stunned the Miss Universe Organization by resigning, citing mental health reasons. Gankiewicz was the fifth woman from Hawaii to be crowned Miss USA and we have seen some states winning the title more than others.
Utah was the first to have multiple winners with Charlotte Sheffield crowned in 1957 and Linda Bement three years later in 1960. Texas had five winners in a row between 1985 and 1989.
Miss USA winners
- 1952 Jackie Loughery (New York)
- 1953 Myrna Hansen (Illinois)
- 1954 Miriam Stevenson (South Carolina)
- 1955 Carlene King Johnson (Vermont)
- 1956 Carol Morris (Iowa)
- 1957 Mary Leona Gage (Maryland)
- 1957 Charlotte Sheffield (Utah)
- 1958 Eurlyne Howell (Louisiana)
- 1959 Terry Lynn Huntingdon (California)
- 1960 Linda Bement (Utah)
- 1961 Sharon Brown (Louisiana)
- 1962 Marcel Wilson (Hawaii)
- 1963 Marite Ozers (Illinois)
- 1964 Bobbi Johnson (District of Columbia)
- 1965 Sue Ann Downey (Ohio)
- 1966 Maria Remenyi (California)
- 1967 Sylvia Hitchcock (Alabama)
- 1967 Cheryl Patton (Florida)
- 1968 Dorothy Anstett (Washington)
- 1969 Wendy Dascomb (Virginia)
- 1970 Deborah Shelton (Virginia)
- 1971 Michele McDonald (Pennsylvania)
- 1972 Tanya Wilson (Hawaii)
- 1973 Amanda Jones (Illinois)
- 1974 Karen Morrison (Illinois)
- 1975 Summer Bartholomew (California)
- 1976 Barbara Peterson (Minnesota)
- 1977 Kimberly Tomes (Texas)
- 1978 Judi Andersen (Hawaii)
- 1979 Mary Therese Friel (New York)
- 1980 Shawn Weatherly (South Carolina)
- 1980 Jineane Ford (Arizona)
- 1981 Kim Seelbrede (Ohio)
- 1982 Terri Utley (Arkansas)
- 1983 Julie Hayek (California)
- 1984 Mai Shanley (New Mexico)
- 1985 Laura Martinez-Herring (Texas)
- 1986 Christy Fichtner (Texas)
- 1987 Michelle Royer (Texas)
- 1988 Courtney Gibbs (Texas)
- 1989 Gretchen Polhemus (Texas)
- 1990 Carole Gist (Michigan)
- 1991 Kelli McCarty (Kansas)
- 1992 Shannon Marketic (California)
- 1993 Kenya Moore (Michigan)
- 1994 Lu Parker (South Carolina)
- 1995 Chelsi Smith (Texas)
- 1995 Shanna Moakler (New York)
- 1996 Ali Landry (Louisiana)
- 1997 Brook Lee (Hawaii)
- 1997 Brandi Sherwood (Idaho)
- 1998 Shawnae Jebbai (Massachusetts)
- 1999 Kimberly Pressler (New York)
- 2000 Lynnette Cole (Tennessee)
- 2001 Kandace Krueger (Texas)
- 2002 Shauntay Hinton (District of Columbia)
- 2003 Susie Castillo (Massachusetts)
- 2004 Shandi Finnessey (Missouri)
- 2005 Chelsea Cooley (North Carolina)
- 2006 Tara Conner (Kentucky)
- 2007 Rachel Smith (Tennessee)
- 2008 Crystle Stewart (Texas)
- 2009 Kristen Dalton (North Carolina)
- 2010 Rima Fakih (Michigan)
- 2011 Alyssa Campanella (California)
- 2012 Olivia Culpo (Rhode Island)
- 2012 Nana Meriwether (Maryland)
- 2013 Erin Brady (Connecticut)
- 2014 Nia Sanchez (Nevada)
- 2015 Olivia Jordan (Oklahoma)
- 2016 Deshauna Barber (District of Columbia)
- 2017 Kára McCullough (District of Columbia)
- 2018 Sarah Rose Summers (Nebraska)
- 2019 Cheslie Kryst (North Carolina)
- 2020 Asya Branch (Mississippi)
- 2021 Elle Smith (Kentucky)
- 2022 R’Bonney Gabriel (Texas)
- 2022 Morgan Romano (North Carolina)
- 2023 Savannah Gankiewicz (Hawaii)
All in all, there have been winners from 36 states. The ones that have never had a Miss USA include: Alaska, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Indiana, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
Texas with 10 Miss USA winners
The state which has seen the most Miss USAs crowned is Texas with 10 winners between 1977 and 2022. They are followed by California with six, Hawaii with five and four states all with four winners: Illinois, North Carolina, New York and District of Columbia.
Next are three states with three Miss USA winners: South Carolina, Louisiana and Michigan. R’Bonney Gabriel was the first Asian American to win the Miss USA title - she is also the joint oldest, a record she shares with North Carolina’s Cheslie Kryst, both 28 years old when they won.
The Miss USA 2024 competition will take place at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT on Sunday, Aug. 4, and will be aired on The CW. You can stream the event live on the official YouTube channel of Miss USA.