Average NFL Player's Hometown Revealed
We wondered where the average NFL player comes from. Continue reading to discover what we found out. The results may surprise you!
- Where is the average NFL player’s hometown?
- Let’s see what we’ve discovered
- Where is the average American NFL player from?
- What’s the closest NFL team to the average player’s hometown?
- The geographic centre of NFL players’ hometowns
Where is the average NFL player’s hometown?
| Organization, Country, and States | Latitude | Longitude |
|---|---|---|
NFL | 35.43794 | -89.889 |
US | 35.63773 | -90.7763 |
Lower 48 US States | 35.74261 | -90.3746 |
Non- Continental US | 17.78864 | -159.152 |
Non- US | 14.0597 | 5.054937 |
Australia | -35.6243 | 142.1102 |
Canada | 47.59369 | -96.8806 |
England | 51.50015 | -0.12624 |
Nigeria | 6.451137 | 3.388396 |
How we conducted our NFL hometown analysis
We conducted a study to determine the average location of all NFL players’ hometowns and found that it’s in Tipton County, just north of Memphis, Tennessee. The exact centre is on the eastern bank of the Mississippi river, at 35 degrees 26 minutes 17 seconds North latitude, 89 degrees 53 minutes 20 seconds West longitude. This is just a short 22-mile trip north from Memphis, Tennessee.
Let’s see what we’ve discovered
We analyzed each NFL player’s high school to discover their hometown, then used the hometown coordinates to find the average of their locations.
The data was obtained from the NFL and covers every NFL player as of the 2022 Kickoff Weekend.
Where is the average American NFL player from?
When we looked at only American players, the results showed the average location was in Poinsett County, Arkansas, 15 miles south of Jonesboro, Arkansas (35°38’15.63″N 90°46’34.79″W).
- The omission of the Australian players mainly explains this difference from the overall NFL centre.
- The six Aussies have a huge relative effect on the average due to how far south in latitude and east in longitude Australian towns are relative to the rest of the NFL.
What’s the closest NFL team to the average player’s hometown?
The Tennessee Titans are the closest NFL team to the average NFL player’s hometown.
The Titans’ Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee, is only 182 miles from this location, significantly closer than any other NFL team.
Their first stadium in Tennessee, Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium in Memphis, Tennessee, known previously as the Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium when the Titans played there, would place them even closer to the centre if they still played there.
The Atlanta Falcons is the next closest team at 333 miles from the average, narrowly beating Super Bowl LVII participants, the Kansas City Chiefs, and their 355 miles distance from the centre.
The Seattle Seahawks is the farthest team from the average, with Lumen Field located 1,861 miles away.
What about non-US-born players?
The average Canadian player comes from North Dakota, just to the west of the Minnesota border (47°35’37.27″N 96°52’49.98″W), and a short 25 miles south of Grand Forks, North Dakota.
This is because the players from Ontario and Quebec are from south of the 49th parallel, which is what forms the majority of the western part of the border between America and Canada.
The study also showed that the average Australian NFL player comes from western Victoria, Australia (35°37’27.82″S 142° 6’36.58″E), 220 miles northwest of Melbourne, Australia, and 200 miles east of Adelaide, Australia.
The geographic centre of NFL players’ hometowns
We took a look at the geographic centre of the NFL players’ hometowns, including subdivisions by organization, nationality, and state.
Here’s what we found:
The National Football League (NFL) may have been founded in America in 1920, but today, many other nations also play the sport. For example, Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, Mexico, and Sweden all have thriving American football scenes.
- And there you have it, the average NFL player’s hometown is in Tipton County, just north of Memphis, Tennessee.
- The average American player is from Arkansas, just south of Jonesboro, Arkansas.
Are all players far away from their childhood homes?
The closest NFL team to the average player’s hometown is the Tennessee Titans, with the Atlanta Falcons second and the Kansas City Chiefs a close third.
The Seattle Seahawks is the farthest team from the average location.