Unlikely US state named best for UFO-spotters in new study - where does YOURS rank?

The wide open spaces of Montana have been named the top spot where you are most likely to have a close encounter, as half of locals claim to have seen a UFO.

Half (exactly 50 percent) of the residents of this western state — often called 'Big Sky Country' — also reported that they 'believe in UFOs,' a new study claims.

The findings are sure to be a surprise to residents of Nevada, home to the legendary classified US Air Force base and Ufology mainstay Area 51: their state did not even crack the Top 10 in the study, which integrated sightings with other regional data.

Delaware took second place, with 80 percent of locals admitting to believing in UFOs, but zero reported they had actually seen strange craft or odd lights in the sky.

Other chart-toppers included the state of Massachusetts, as data collected from Google searches shows that the New England state is the most UFO-obsessed in America, with 13,750 monthly Google queries related to the topic (or 19.64 searches per 10,000 people). But New York and New Jersey were not far behind.

The Google search terms incorporated in this analysis included 'UFO sighting,' 'Are UFOs real' and 'UFO video,' among others. 

New York's 37,260 monthly UFO-related search queries divided into 19.04 per 10,000 residents, showing that this seemingly high number needed to be adjusted for population density. 

New Jersey's 16,820 UFO searches came to 18.1 per 10,000 people, ranking it third.

Despite stereotypes of repeated 'alien abduction' cases in rural America, South Dakota, Arkansas and Louisiana were all ranked at the bottom for search term interest in the phenomena.  

South Dakota came in dead last in UFO interest, with only 850 monthly searches, or 9.25 per 10,000 residents.

Arkansas placed second with 2,870 UFO Google searches, or 9.36 per 10,000 people in state; followed by Louisiana with 4,300 searches or 9.4 per 10,000 residents. 

Collectively, one full quarter of all Americans (25 percent) admitted to believing in UFOs, according to survey data. 

The number was intriguingly higher than those who were actually willing to admit that they have seen one: only 7 percent self-reported that they had personally witnessed a UFO in the study's surveys. 

The total UFO sightings, according to data from the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC), as used in the new study, was 132,850 last year.

The new study incorporated a range of metrics to determine which state gave locals and visitors the highest chance of seeing a UFO: including UFO sightings via NUFORC, data on light pollution levels, and survey data from 2,057 people on topics related to UFO encounters across each US state.

The project was sponsored by JackpotCity Casino for reasons that have not yet been fully disclosed.

But the adjustments based on light pollution, statewide population density, and survey data significantly altered the findings when compared to NUFORC's raw UFO sighting figures.

California, for example, would have otherwise topped the list with a staggering 16,354 UFO sightings in total reported to NUFORC. 

But the state's high light pollution (57.37) and meager 7 percent of citizens who reported having seen a UFO themselves in the study's survey data weighed down the Golden State's ultimate ranking. 

Nevertheless, California's skies remain a magnet for mysterious objects and nearly a quarter, about 24 percent, of its people want to 'believe in UFOs.'