Where 2025-26 football players came from

Texas sends more players to college football than any other state: 9.7% of 2025-26 players, clear of Pennsylvania at 5.8%.

Out of 42,663 players counted. From official athletics roster pages, read August 4, 2026.

410 schools' 2025-26 football rosters, 42,663 players. We don't say what share of all programs that is — no authoritative count of programs exists.

Texas4,159 players · 9.7%
Pennsylvania2,476 players · 5.8%
Florida2,359 players · 5.5%
Ohio2,281 players · 5.3%
California2,115 players · 5.0%
Illinois1,964 players · 4.6%
Georgia1,912 players · 4.5%
New York1,803 players · 4.2%
New Jersey1,600 players · 3.8%
North Carolina1,533 players · 3.6%
Virginia1,395 players · 3.3%
Maryland1,358 players · 3.2%
Michigan1,174 players · 2.8%
Minnesota1,098 players · 2.6%
Louisiana918 players · 2.2%
Home state unknown997 players · 2.3%
These players' roster pages didn't list a readable home town. We count them rather than hide them.

37 more places had fewer players and aren't shown.

Out of 42,663 players counted. From official athletics roster pages, read August 4, 2026.

Fewer than 0.9% of the football players we read came from outside the U.S. (392 players), so there's no second chart — the numbers per country are too small to be worth ranking.

How to read this

Each bar is the number of players on a 2025-26 college football roster whose listed home town is in that state. It is not a count of recruits, offers, or scholarships, and it says nothing about your own odds — it's simply where the players currently on rosters grew up.

We only call a state first when its lead survives the count. Here Texas is ahead of Pennsylvania by 1,683 players, more than the ~163 that ordinary variation could explain.

The unknown bar matters. 997 football players (2.3%) are on rosters that didn't list a readable home town. We show them because a chart with no leftovers is usually a chart someone tidied up.

Source: official athletics roster pages, 2025-26 season, read August 4, 2026.