Yes, a ‘beauty score’ exists. And yes, Washington won. Here’s what makes WA so beautiful
Travelers recognize the United States as a highly geographically diverse nation. Charming coasts, pristine beaches, mountains, forests, deserts, parks — we truly do have it all.
But where does Washington fit in among these 50 states? According to APR Travel, the Evergreen State takes top spot as the most naturally beautiful state. Cue Washingtonians saying “we know that.”
APR used a methodology to assign each state a “beauty score.” These scores were calculated by considering mountains with the highest elevations and the number of named mountains, national parks, waterfalls, large natural lakes and beaches. Every category was scored and then averaged for each state to assign the official beauty score.
Washington’s beauty score landed at 9.29.
States that scored just below Washington were California (8.64), Alaska (7.89), Oregon (7.79) and Hawaii (6.97).
There are 3,131 waterfalls in Washington, according to the World Waterfall Database, the largest of which is Colonial Creek Falls in North Cascades National Park, which drops water 2,568 feet.
Peak Visor, a mountain-tracking database, says there are more than 3,167 named mountains in Washington, four reaching higher than 10,000 feet in elevation. Washington also features seven ultra-prominent peaks, which are mountains with a prominence of over 4,900 feet — Mount Rainier ( 13,219), Mount Baker (8,832), Pahto (8,127), Mount Olympus (7,841), Glacier Peak (7,530), Mount Stuart (5,358) and Abercrombie Mountain (5,180).
One of the most significant gains for Washington that APR Travel took into account was the number of beaches. Washington is deemed to be the state with the most beaches in the nation at 1,228, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The Evergreen State continued its strong case for the nation’s most beautiful state by having the fifth-most natural large lakes: around 8,000, according to Lake Near Me. The largest natural lake in Washington is Lake Chelan, which is the third-deepest lake in the United States. Lake Chelan is smaller than Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake, which is in fact a reservoir and not counted by APR Travel.
APR Travel also ranked states based on the number of national parks within state boundaries. Washington has three national parks within its boundaries: North Cascades National Park, Mount Rainier National Park and Olympic National Park.
Alaska takes the cake for the state with the most mountains taller than 1,500 meters: 64. California has the most named peaks (8,008) and most national parks (9).
Florida has the most lakes, with more than 30,000 large natural water formations.
This story was originally published October 11, 2022 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Yes, a ‘beauty score’ exists. And yes, Washington won. Here’s what makes WA so beautiful."
