Where Missouri Ranks Among States With The Best Roller Coasters

Fact Checked by Michael Peters

When it comes to summer pastimes, it seems residents of the Show Me State have their pick at a handful of the nation’s best thrill rides.

With six of the nation’s top roller coasters located in Missouri, there’s no shortage of options to choose from.

BetMissouri.com took a break from sports betting in Missouri and utilized GoldenTicketAwards.com to gather the top 50 steel roller coasters and top 50 wooden roller coasters from their 2022 Golden Ticket Awards ceremony. We used the state of each roller coaster of those 100 winners to determine which states have the best roller coasters.

State With Best Roller Coasters

RankLocationNo. of Roller Coaster Winners% of Roller Coaster Winners
1Pennsylvania1215.6%
2Ohio1013.0%
T-3Florida67.8%
T-3Missouri67.8%
T-3Texas67.8%
T-3Virginia67.8%
7California56.5%
NOTE: The percentages aren’t out of 100 due to the GTA awards being global. There were 23 roller coasters outside of the U.S. in the top 100.

Missouri Boasts Top-Notch Roller Coasters

On a national level, Missouri features some of the highest per capita figures when it comes to top roller coasters, ranking in a tie for third overall (along with Florida, Texas and Virginia), with six roller coaster winners located in the state.

Maybe people have so much time for roller coasters because there are no Missouri betting apps.

The No. 1 state for top-tier roller coasters is Pennsylvania, with 12, followed by Ohio’s 10. California rounded out the U.S. list with five rides listed on the top 100 list.

Among the winners from the Show Me State were “Outlaw Run” at Branson’s Silver Dollar City (pictured above), which ranked ninth among wooden roller coasters. Silver Dollar City’s “Time Traveler” was 22nd in the steel roller coaster category.

Kansas City’s Worlds of Fun saw its roller coaster ride, “Prowler” rank 30th overall among wooden coasters, while Six Flag St. Louis landed three coasters among the top 100 — “Screamin’ Eagle” (38th wooden coaster), “Boss” (43rd wooden coaster) and “American Thunder” (49th wooden coaster).

Must be 21+ to participate & present in the state of Kansas. T&Cs Apply. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-522-4700.

Author

Christopher Boan

Christopher Boan is a lead writer for BetMissouri.com, specializing in covering state issues. He has covered sports and sports betting in Arizona for more than seven years, including stops at ArizonaSports.com, the Tucson Weekly and the Green Valley News.

Cited by leading media organizations, such as: