How Devoted Are Maryland Residents To Pet Ownership?
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January 30, 2024 02:34pm
There seems to be a special “day” for just about everyone and everything so it’s no surprise that there is a National Pet Day, and it’s April 11.
With that thought in mind, BetMaryland.com looked into which states have the most affinity for pet ownership with the definition of “pet” narrowed to dogs and cats (sorry, all of you reptile, rodent and fish owners).
We used data from the American Veterinary Medical Association’s Pet Ownership and Demographics Sourcebook to calculate which states had the highest percentage of pet ownership. Relying on survey responses, it turns out that Maryland ranks fairly deep on the list of the lower 48 U.S. states (data from Hawaii and Alaska was limited).
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Total Pet Ownership By State
| Rank | State | % of Pet Ownership |
| 1 | Wyoming | 71.8 |
| 2 | West Virginia | 71 |
| 3 | Idaho | 70 |
| 4 | Vermont | 70 |
| 5 | Indiana | 69.2 |
| 6 | Arkansas | 69 |
| 7 | Mississippi | 65.5 |
| 8 | Oklahoma | 65 |
| 9 | Kentucky | 64.1 |
| 10 | North Dakota | 63.7 |
| 11 | Maine | 63.5 |
| 12 | Missouri | 63.5 |
| 13 | Washington | 63 |
| 14 | Kansas | 62.8 |
| 15 | Michigan | 62.4 |
| 16 | Ohio | 62.4 |
| 17 | Montana | 62 |
| 18 | South Carolina | 62 |
| 19 | Tennessee | 61.7 |
| 20 | Pennsylvania | 60.6 |
| 21 | New Mexico | 60 |
| 22 | Alabama | 59.8 |
| 23 | Oregon | 59.2 |
| 24 | Iowa | 59 |
| 25 | North Carolina | 59 |
| 26 | Wisconsin | 59 |
| 27 | Utah | 58.5 |
| 28 | Texas | 58.2 |
| 29 | Arizona | 58 |
| 30 | Delaware | 57.9 |
| 31 | Florida | 56 |
| 32 | Virginia | 55.5 |
| 33 | Louisiana | 54 |
| 34 | Minnesota | 54 |
| 35 | Nevada | 53 |
| 36 | New Hampshire | 52 |
| 37 | Nebraska | 51.3 |
| 38 | Georgia | 51 |
| 39 | Connecticut | 50 |
| 40 | New York | 50 |
| 41 | Massachusetts | 49 |
| 42 | Illinois | 48.6 |
| 43 | Maryland | 48.6 |
| 44 | New Jersey | 47.4 |
| 45 | Colorado | 47.2 |
| 46 | South Dakota | 46 |
| 47 | Rhode Island | 45.4 |
| 48 | California | 40.1 |
| 49 | *Alaska | 0 |
| 50 | *Hawaii | 0 |
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Maryland Low In Pet Ownership Rankings
Among Marylanders, only 48.6% of respondents in a survey said they owned either a dog or a cat, making the state’s ranking No. 43 on a list of 48 states. Breaking it down further, dogs led over cats in the survey, 30.2% to 18.6%.
There was no word on a specific breed favored by Marylanders, but the state dog is the Chesapeake Bay Retriever. And sports fans may recall that when the No. 16 seed Maryland-Baltimore County men’s basketball squad beat No. 1 seed Virginia in the NCAA Tournament in 2018, it had the school’s mascot name, Retrievers, boldly emblazoned on their yellow jerseys.
For those wondering about the state feline, that would be a Calico cat. At least one version of why that came to be is that the coloring of the black-orange-and-white Calico – which is really not a breed -- resembles the Baltimore Oriole bird. By further extension, those are the team colors of the Major League Baseball Orioles, a local favorite with Maryland sportsbook apps.
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Top And Bottom Pet-Owning States
As far as more enthusiastic pet-owning states are concerned, the survey placed Wyoming at No. 1 with 71.8% of that state’s respondents saying they were pet owners. The rest of the Top 10 pet-owning states were: West Virginia, Idaho, Vermont, Indiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Kentucky, and North Dakota.
Trailing Maryland at the bottom of the pet ownership list, from No. 44 through No. 48, were New Jersey, Colorado, South Dakota, Rhode Island, and last was California with pet ownership of 40.1%.
For all of the best Maryland sports betting promo codes, stick with us at BetMaryland, where you’ll also find sports analysis, industry coverage and lifestyle articles like this one.
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