25 Maps That Show Where Professional Athletes Come From

Everyone is aware how incredibly difficult it is to make it to the highest levels of professional sports. But if we look a little closer, not all states or countries are created equal when it comes to producing professional athletes.

Some states produce more athletes, at least in part, because of their large population. But what if we factor in population sizes? Even then we see that some states are more likely to produce professional athletes in certain sports than others.

Using data collected by Sports-Reference.com, we created maps for each of the four major North American sports leagues (MLB, NFL, NHL, NBA) that show which states and countries currently produce the most professional athletes in North America and which states and countries have produced the most all-time.