Arizona Has the Sixth-Most UFO Sightings in the U.S., a New Study Says

A new study ranks the U.S. states according to which has the most UFO sightings, and Arizona is near the top of the list.

Appropriately enough (it's almost the 25th anniversary of the Phoenix Lights incident, after all), the report states that Arizona has had the sixth-highest number of UFO sightings, with 4,604.

We're behind California (15,072), Florida (7,513), Washington (6,720), Texas (5,631), and New York (5,403). Also in the top 10 are Pennsylvania (4,592), Ohio (4,110), Illinois (4,025), and Michigan (3,383).

If you're wondering, North Dakota has the lowest number of UFO sightings (264), with South Dakota in second (355) and Delaware (377) in third place.

The study was conducted by Outforia, a website devoted to appreciating the outdoors. Data comes from the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC).

The report also includes which states have the most reported UFO sightings per 100,000 people. Arizona didn't crack the top 10 there. By that metric, Washington is at the top of the list (87.2 sightings), followed by Vermont, Montana, Alaska, Maine, New Hampshire, Oregon, New Mexico, Idaho, and Wyoming.

In addition, the study looked at what people report seeing when they say they've seen a UFO. A light or lights was the top reported phenomenon, followed by a circle, triangle, fireball, sphere, disk, oval, formation, cigar, and something that changes shape.

The full report can be found here.

And of course, the study only looked at the reported sightings, so it's entirely possible that there have been far more alien encounters in Arizona than we know. The truth is out there.