I want a recount. A new survey ranks New Jersey 36th for most “fun” states.
The presence of the Silverball Museum in Asbury Park alone should propel us up the list, not to mention all the other things there are to do in New Jersey.
The study was published by Wallet Hub and looked at 26 metrics across two broad categories, “Entertainment & Recreation” and “Night Life.”
For Entertainment & Recreation, they looked at things like number of attractions, variety of arts, entertainment and recreational facilities, ideal weather, restaurants, golf courses, and arcades per capita, as well as amusement parks, movie theaters, ski resorts and more.
Another metric was beach quality, where you would think we should rank pretty high, since most states don’t have beaches at all, not real ocean beaches, anyway. Yet we ranked 34th for Entertainment and Recreation.
For Night Life, they considered things like average beer and wine price, number of bars, movie costs, time of last call, number of music festivals and performing arts centers, and casinos per capita (once again, this alone should propel us to near the top). Yet we only came in 24th for Night Life.
Just think of all there is to do in New Jersey; I already mentioned the Shore and the casinos, but about places like the Liberty Science Center or Adventure Aquarium?
There are mountains for hiking, not to mention the Delaware Water Gap for all sorts of fun. Again, did I mention the beaches? Every Shore town with a boardwalk is more fun than most of the states on the list.
We also have a playoff caliber hockey team in the Devils, and two NFL teams that play in New Jersey.
California was ranked #1 and Mississippi was 50th.
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The reviews are in — see which NJ breweries have the most beers with a great rating on BeerAdvocate.
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[WARNING: Under no circumstances should you enter private or abandoned property. By doing so you risk bodily harm and/or prosecution for trespassing.]
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Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Doyle only.
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