Photo by Tomáš Malík
Article courtesy of Coinfully
- Michigan has 1.17 gold locations per 1,000 square miles, ranking 22nd among the easiest states to find gold.
- California is number one, with a huge 66.59 gold locations per 1,000 square miles.
- The analysis by Coinfully used US Geological Survey data to reveal the gold hotspots throughout the country.
A new study has revealed the states where you are most likely to find gold, so how likely are you to find it in Michigan?
Experts at Coinfully, a rare coin buying company, analyzed data from the United States Geological Survey on all of the locations in the United States where gold ore has been found or produced as a commodity. They compared the land area of each state to the number of locations where gold has been found, revealing the states where you are most likely to find gold.
Michigan findings
Michigan ranks 22nd nationally for gold density. There are 56,539 square miles of land area in the state, as well as 66 locations where gold has been found or is currently being produced. This means there are 1.17 gold locations per 1,000 square miles in Michigan.
So how do other states compare?
The top 30 states where you are most likely to find gold
| Rank | State | Number of locations with gold | Land Area (square miles) | Number of gold locations per 1000 square miles |
| 1 | California | 10,373 | 155,779 | 66.59 |
| 2 | Washington | 2,271 | 66,455 | 34.17 |
| 3 | Oregon | 3,015 | 95,988 | 31.41 |
| 4 | Nevada | 3,393 | 109,781 | 30.91 |
| 5 | Idaho | 2,350 | 82,643 | 28.44 |
| 6 | Arizona | 1,977 | 113,594 | 17.4 |
| 7 | Colorado | 1,543 | 103,642 | 14.89 |
| 8 | Montana | 1,923 | 145,546 | 13.21 |
| 9 | Alaska | 5,264 | 570,641 | 9.22 |
| 10 | Utah | 613 | 82,169 | 7.46 |
| 11 | Tennessee | 181 | 41,235 | 4.39 |
| 12 | New Mexico | 520 | 121,298 | 4.29 |
| 13 | North Carolina | 194 | 48,618 | 3.99 |
| 14 | Georgia | 206 | 57,513 | 3.58 |
| 15 | Virginia | 141 | 39,490 | 3.57 |
| 16 | Alabama | 103 | 50,645 | 2.03 |
| 17 | Vermont | 18 | 9,217 | 1.95 |
| 18 | Maine | 60 | 30,843 | 1.95 |
| 19 | Wyoming | 167 | 97,093 | 1.72 |
| 20 | South Dakota | 126 | 75,811 | 1.66 |
| 21 | South Carolina | 38 | 30,061 | 1.26 |
| 22 | Michigan | 66 | 56,539 | 1.17 |
| 23 | New Hampshire | 5 | 8,953 | 0.56 |
| 24 | Connecticut | 2 | 4,842 | 0.41 |
| 25 | Maryland | 3 | 9,707 | 0.31 |
| 26 | Wisconsin | 9 | 54,158 | 0.17 |
| 27 | Pennsylvania | 5 | 44,743 | 0.11 |
| 28 | Minnesota | 8 | 79,627 | 0.1 |
| 29 | Texas | 23 | 261,232 | 0.09 |
| 30 | Missouri | 5 | 68,742 | 0.07 |
Wyatt McDonald, president of Coinfully, has commented:
“At the end of the day, everyone dreams of being able to find gold one way or another, or at least coming across something of value, even if it’s another precious metal. Both for businesses and for individuals, if you’re looking to ‘strike lucky’, then it really is worth investing more time in the top ten states.
“All of them share similar geological landscapes and environments, ideal for these metals, and if you’re in a state that isn’t in the top ten, it’s still worth looking for environments within your state that are similar to those in the top ten.”
Sources:
United States Geological Survey
Methodology:
Data was first collected from the US Geological Survey’s Mineral Resources Data System. The data was then filtered to exclude non-US locations and US territories such as the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. The data was further filtered only to include locations where gold ore was reported or where gold is produced as a commodity. Then, the number of gold occurrences, prospect, and producer locations was totaled for each state, giving the total number of gold-containing locations. Finally, this number of locations was compared to the state’s land area to get the total number of gold locations per 1,000 square miles, upon which the final ranking is based.