Looking for something to watch this fall? With the writers and actors on strike in Hollywood, reality TV is taking over the airwaves. If you want to be ready for the coming wave of programming, you might want to check out the most popular reality TV shows in your state. Lucky for you, we’ve got them all compiled here with a handy guide on where to watch them, too.
How do the shows rank? Well, we started with a list of the top 26 reality shows in the U.S., narrowed it down to 10 shows, and then used data from Google Trends to examine the search volume for each show. Some were surviving as big hits and others are still running their amazing race. But the top dog—err, shark? Yeah, that’s a no-brainer investment.
Time to pitch to the sharks and see where each show stands!
Most states have a Shark Tank in their living room
Is it weird that it’s called Shark Tank and yet has no sharks or tanks? That doesn’t matter to most Americans because Shark Tank is the top reality show in 25 states—exactly half of the U.S. No other show comes even close, so the sharks should be happy they made the right deal.
Big Brother tops the list in 10 states across the U.S.
- The show, based in part on George Orwell’s novel 1984, follows a group of contestants living under constant surveillance together in a house as they get voted out.
- The show has the most support in the middle of the country, with states like Indiana, Nebraska, Ohio, and Oklahoma ranking it at the top.
The CBS staple Survivor is the No. 3 most searched reality TV show in the U.S., topping the list in six states.
- The reality adventure competition is one of the oldest on the list, debuting in 2000 alongside Big Brother.
- Hawaii is a big fan of Survivor … maybe they’re looking for ways to vote people off their island?
While most states pick one of the top three reality shows—Shark Tank, Big Brother, and Survivor—there are some outliers that picked up a few states along the way.
- The Amazing Race found its fans in Maine, Montana, and New Mexico.
- Alaska and South Dakota are big fans of singing competition The Voice.
- And even after the affair that was #Scandoval, only two states picked Vanderpump Rules as their top reality show: Nevada and Vermont.
Finally, Top Chef finds its culinary winner in Wisconsin, which may be because the next season of the show is coming to the Badger State. And Queer Eye has the most fans in Wyoming. Now, it may be a coincidence, but Tan France of the Fab Five has family (on his husband’s side) in the Cowboy State.
Last year, when we surveyed 1,000 Americans, we found that America’s top reality shows were Big Brother and Survivor. Both shows still rank in the top 10 here, but they didn’t have high search volume on a state-by-state basis. But, as you’ll see, they are still very popular on TikTok and for TV viewership.
Top reality shows by state
| State | Reality Show |
|---|---|
| Alabama | Shark Tank |
| Alaska | The Voice |
| Arizona | Shark Tank |
| Arkansas | Big Brother |
| California | Shark Tank |
| Colorado | Shark Tank |
| Connecticut | Shark Tank |
| Delaware | Big Brother |
| Florida | Shark Tank |
| Georgia | Shark Tank |
| Hawaii | Survivor |
| Idaho | Survivor |
| Illinois | Shark Tank |
| Indiana | Big Brother |
| Iowa | Shark Tank |
| Kansas | Big Brother |
| Kentucky | Big Brother |
| Louisiana | Big Brother |
| Maine | The Amazing Race |
| Maryland | Shark Tank |
| Massachusetts | Shark Tank |
| Michigan | Shark Tank |
| Minnesota | Shark Tank |
| Mississippi | Shark Tank |
| Missouri | Survivor |
| Montana | The Amazing Race |
| Nebraska | Big Brother |
| Nevada | Vanderpump Rules |
| New Hampshire | Shark Tank |
| New Jersey | Shark Tank |
| New Mexico | The Amazing Race |
| New York | Shark Tank |
| North Carolina | Shark Tank |
| North Dakota | Shark Tank |
| Ohio | Big Brother |
| Oklahoma | Big Brother |
| Oregon | Survivor |
| Pennsylvania | Shark Tank |
| Rhode Island | Shark Tank |
| South Carolina | Shark Tank |
| South Dakota | The Voice |
| Tennessee | Shark Tank |
| Texas | Shark Tank |
| Utah | Survivor |
| Vermont | Vanderpump Rules |
| Virginia | Shark Tank |
| Washington | Survivor |
| West Virginia | Big Brother |
| Wisconsin | Top Chef |
| Wyoming | Queer Eye |
| Alabama | Shark Tank |
Methodology
The team at CableTV.com came up with the list of 26 reality TV shows by examining viewership, Emmy nominations, and other lists of popular shows. We narrowed down the list by rating each show on a 100-point scale: 35 points for TikTok viewership and popularity, 30 points for Emmy nominations, 17.5 points for TV viewership, and 17.5 points for IMDb star ratings. This ranking system allowed us to see how the industry and viewers regard each show.
The top 10 shows were then fed through Google Trends to collect search volume data from the past 12 months (8/21/2022 – 8/22/2023). The show with the most search volume in each state was deemed that state’s “favorite”.
Disclaimer
This content was produced by CableTV.com and is in no way sponsored, endorsed, or administered by, or associated with any property mentioned.
