Georgia ranked 4th most superstitious state as Friday the 13th approaches

Georgia is a state where knocking on wood is practically a sport, and the numbers back that up. New research ranks Georgia 4th most superstitious state in the country, with Atlanta coming in 5th among the most superstitious cities in America.

What’s happening: The social casino website ACE.com ranked all 50 states by superstition-related activity, using five measures: the number of psychics, astrologers, metaphysical shops, and fortune tellers in each state, plus average monthly Google searches for 53 superstition-related keywords. Georgia scored 45.10 out of 100.

By the numbers — Georgia: The state has 207 psychics, 68 astrologers, 214 metaphysical shops, and 47 fortune tellers. Georgians run 15,460 superstition-related Google searches every month. Keywords tracked in the study included searches for angel numbers, the evil eye, black cat superstitions, and the question most relevant this time of year: why is Friday the 13th unlucky.

Atlanta’s standing: Atlanta scored 32.68 out of 100, placing it 5th nationally. The city has 32 psychics, 16 astrologers, and 26 metaphysical shops.

The national picture: California topped the overall list with a score of 90.73, driven by 874 psychics and 63,290 monthly superstition-related searches — more than any other state. Florida ranked 2nd at 81.01, with 483 metaphysical shops, the most of any state. New York came in 3rd at 62.70. Texas ranked 5th, Arizona 6th, Colorado 7th, Massachusetts 8th, Michigan 9th, and Ohio 10th. California’s dominance comes with an asterisk, though: when population is factored in, the state drops to 29th place.

Most superstitious cities: Phoenix led all cities with a score of 47.32. Portland, Oregon ranked 2nd at 38.25, Miami 3rd at 34.92, and Sedona, Arizona 4th at 34.63. Atlanta came in 5th, followed by Brooklyn, Los Angeles, Denver, Las Vegas, and Houston. Sedona’s placement is a peculiar piece of prognostication: the city has a population of about 10,000 but counts 66 psychics — matching Los Angeles and outranking Atlanta.

What’s new: The data, collected in October 2026, represents ACE.com’s ranking of all 50 states on a superstition index for 2026.

B.T. Clark

Publisher at The Georgia Sun – btclark@thegeorgiasun.com – Web

B.T. Clark is the Publisher of The Georgia Sun and author of Principles Are Like Pants… You Ought to Have Some. Over two decades in journalism, he has served as Managing Editor of Neighbor Newspapers in metro Atlanta and Digital Director at Times-Journal Inc., earning multiple awards along the way. His work has appeared in newspapers across the state, including The Cherokee Tribune and The Marietta Daily Journal.