Where 2025-26 men's track & field players came from
No state leads college men's track & field: Pennsylvania, New York and California are effectively level at the top, and we won't rank them.
Out of 25,393 players counted. From official athletics roster pages, read August 4, 2026.
635 schools' 2025-26 men's track & field rosters, 25,393 players. We don't say what share of all programs that is — no authoritative count of programs exists.
Not a ranking. The top states here are within 0.1 of a percentage point of each other — Pennsylvania, New York, California are effectively level. 49 players separate the top two, and a lead that small would need about 117 players before we'd call anyone first. So read the bars as sizes, not as places 1, 2, 3.
- Pennsylvania1,739 players · 6.8%
- New York1,690 players · 6.7%
- California1,522 players · 6.0%
- New Jersey1,276 players · 5.0%
- Illinois1,165 players · 4.6%
- Texas1,098 players · 4.3%
- Ohio1,064 players · 4.2%
- Outside the U.S.892 players · 3.5%
- Massachusetts864 players · 3.4%
- Minnesota732 players · 2.9%
- North Carolina687 players · 2.7%
- Michigan669 players · 2.6%
- Virginia668 players · 2.6%
- Wisconsin635 players · 2.5%
- Georgia601 players · 2.4%
- Home state unknown1,639 players · 6.5%
These players' roster pages didn't list a readable home town. We count them rather than hide them.
38 more places had fewer players and aren't shown.
Out of 25,393 players counted. From official athletics roster pages, read August 4, 2026.
Fewer than 3.5% of the men's track & field players we read came from outside the U.S. (892 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 men's track & field 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 don't call a state first here. Pennsylvania, New York, California are within a percentage point of each other, and 49 players separate the top two — a "#1" that a handful of players would overturn isn't a fact, so we don't print one.
The unknown bar matters. 1,639 men's track & field players (6.5%) 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.