Happy Labor Day Weekend!

Labor Day is typically considered the unofficial end of summer, and with a three-day weekend full of nice weather ahead of us, there's a good chance that grills will be going!

In honor of this weekend's holiday, Zippia put together a list of U.S. states that are the biggest fans of BBQ. To determine their list, they looked at two different factors:

  • "BBQ restaurants per capita
  • Search volume for: Brisket, ribs, BBQ, and BBQ sauce"

I knew that Iowa had to be in the top 25, but I wasn't sure where exactly we'd end up. We actually came in at number 17, but I think that's probably because we don't have as many BBQ restaurants as other states, especially in the south. We got a score of 84 for "Ribs Search Volume" and we were 30th for "Restaurant Per Captia Rank."

Surprisingly, the number one state for BBQ lovers is NOT in the southern region of the U.S. It's actually Montana! Here are the rest of the top 10:

  1. Montana
  2. Kansas
  3. Missouri
  4. Wyoming
  5. Oklahoma
  6. Tennessee
  7. South Carolina
  8. Arkansas
  9. Lousiana
  10. Alabama

On the other hand, here are the ten states that ranked the lowest on Zippia's list:

  1. Rhode Island
  2. Massachusetts
  3. New York
  4. Connecticut
  5. New Jersey
  6. California
  7. Pennsylvania
  8. Florida
  9. Maine
  10. Maryland

We have a few GREAT BBQ restaurants here in Eastern Iowa. I would have to say that QDogs in Marion is my personal favorite, but I know that Sugarfire Smokehouse and Jimmy Jack's Rib Shack also have some killer food! What's your favorite local BBQ restaurant? Let us know in the comments below!

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