Is Minnesota, Wisconsin, Or Iowa The Best? National Poll Puts An End To The Debate

If you call one of these three states home (or you once did), you've probably had a playful conversation or debate about which state is best between Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa.

Besides geography, the three states share some commonalities like agriculture, Big 10 Football rivalries, the Mississippi River, being thought of as "flyover country" by people from the coasts...you get the idea.

We also have our differences, too. Who has the most (or best) lakes? Which state offers the best outdoor recreation? Who has the better NFL team? (Sorry, Iowa)

As a lifelong Minnesotan, I'll admit I have a little bit of a biased view, but I like to think of the Land of 10,000 Lakes as the superior state among the three for a number of reasons. My opinion isn't the one that matters here, however.

READ MORE: Which state has more, better, taller waterfalls between Minnesota & Wisconsin?

In their 2025 American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) survey, the question was asked about which of these states was better. This is one of a few seemingly random questions in a survey that otherwise focuses on some pretty serious issues in our current society. May as well have a little fun too, I suppose?

This is a nationwide survey of adults, conducted by Verasight, and is designed to be scientifically representative of the country; so this isn't just some random poll with built-in bias.

Is Minnesota, Wisconsin, or Iowa best? What the national survey says

So, remember, this survey is primarily geared to getting answers about important questions and topics in the news and our society right now. It polls a diverse and representative adult population across a variety of ages and demographics from around the country.

The results, humorously enough, are very "Midwestern", even though most of the participants don't live in any of these three states. What do I mean by that?

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Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin are essentially in a statistical tie for which one is the best. Yep, when you figure in the statistical margin for error, we're all just as good (or not good) as the others.

Technically, Minnesota did claim the victory, with 8% of respondents saying Minnesota was better than the other two states (which backs up my argument I was making further up this article).

Wisconsin took second place, with 7% of the respondents saying it was the preferred state, while Iowa took third with 5%.

That's great and all, right? But that's only 20% of the respondents. What did everyone else say?

The largest portion of respondents (47%) said "All three are equally good", and 33% said "I don't know". Yep, a whopping 80% of respondents were either completely apathetic or saw no major differences between the three.

As a lifelong Minnesotan, I'll claim the statistical victory here. I'll also take this as another reminder of a couple of other things:

One, a lot of people who aren't from one of our three states don't really know much about who we are and what we have to offer.

Two, maybe our silly rivalry just isn't that important. Maybe, we're just more alike than different, and we should embrace that?

Oh, who am I kidding...