Box Office Superstars: Who made the most in each US state?

The glitz and glam of Hollywood may be as glorious as it sounds after all, as our latest data reveals how much celebrity superstars have earned at the Box Office from each state.

We’ve researched where our favourite Hollywood actors were born across all 50 US states and the jaw-dropping amount they’ve made at the Box Office with one famous face earning a whopping $27 billion.

There were some pretty big names on the list – but not everyone quite made the cut.

Here’s what we found:

The reigning champion of the list belongs to the world-famous Samuel L. Jackson, raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee, who made an impressive $27,774,380,735.00 – beating out all others in his hometown as well as every actor across the country.

Following behind Jackson are well-renowned stars Robert Downey Jr, Zoe Saldana and Chris Evans who each earned between $13-15 billion in total Box Office hits.

Zoe Saldana has done incredibly well on our list, she made the big bucks over the last year after Avatar: Way of Water exceeded expectations and killed it at the Box Office, boosting her overall total to $14,666,536,663.00.

Oscar winner Brad Pitt also made his mark on the list by raking in $8,855,118,051.00 altogether at the Box Office while former co-star in The Lost City – Sandra Bullock, follows closely after with $6,079,663,472.00.

We found that Indiana ranked lowest on the list compared to other states, but the late James Dean still managed to make $30,194,679.00 – more than any other actor in the state, despite only appearing in three hit films.

What was interesting in our research is the recurring Marvel theme running throughout, many of the actors in the hit franchise featured in our list of big Box Office earners.

There’s no doubt that Marvel has smashed sales at the Box office in recent years with incredible films like Avengers Endgame and Infinity War being some of the highest-grossing superhero movies of all time.

There are 14 Marvel actors out of the 50 on the list which means 28% of the highest Box Office earners belong to those who have appeared in films from the franchise.

They have collectively made $150 billion together at the Box Office for all the movies they’ve starred in.

It’s not only well-known actors who have earned the most from the Box Office from their respective states, as two famous talk show hosts have made the big bucks even though acting isn’t their main profession.

TV personality Ellen Degeneres earned the most for Louisiana with $2,335,722,204.00 as well as talk show host Oprah Winfrey who made the top spot for Missipissi with $1,625,859,233.00.

Despite Oprah Winfrey ranking 35th on the list, she takes the top spot for the highest net worth compared to the other stars at $3.5 billion which may come as little surprise due to her success as a media mogul.

There are some pretty big names on this list, but even we were stunned to learn how much they’ve made at the Box Office.

It’s not a surprise that Samuel L. Jackson has reached the top of the list as most American households will know his name and would’ve seen at least one of the 139 movies in which he’s starred in.

But this may be short-lived by the end of 2024 when the third Avatar film is set to be released and dollars come flooding in.

We predict that Zoe Salanda will rise in the ranking and could take the top spot once the third Avatar film is made considering how Avatar: Way of Water smashed it at the Box Office.

One of the biggest shocks was how many of the stars that made the list were part of the Marvel franchise, totalling 28% for everyone included in each state.

Marvel has always been a titan in the industry, but their success has completely triumphed the Box Office in the last decade.

Not only does our data show how much celebrities can make at the box office, but it highlights just how big the industry is.

Do you recognise some of the names on the list and are there any names you expected to be there who didn’t make it?

Take a look at our table below to see the full data:

Ranking	State	Actor/Actress Birthplace	Worldwide Box Office
1	Tennessee	Samuel L. Jackson	$27,774,380,735.00
2	New York	Robert Downey Jr.	$15,725,830,539.00
3	New Jersey	Zoe Saldana	$14,666,536,663.00
4	Massachusetts	Chris Evans	$13,753,699,045.00
5	Minnesota	Chris Pratt	$13,475,770,771.00
6	Missouri	Don Cheadle	$12,414,975,822.00
7	Pennsylvania	Bradley Cooper	$12,178,491,163.00
8	California	Tom Hanks	$11,716,608,601.00
9	Wisconsin	Mark Ruffalo	$11,399,776,910.00
10	Michigan	J.K. Simmons	$11,173,464,281.00
11	Kentucky	Johnny Depp	$10,837,266,690.00
12	Illinois	Harrison Ford	$10,175,016,623.00
13	Washington	Dave Bautista	$9,056,196,423.00
14	Oklahoma	Brad Pitt	$8,855,118,051.00
15	South Carolina	Chadwick Boseman	$7,683,754,667.00
16	Iowa	Danai Gurira	$7,127,387,885.00
17	Georgia	Julia Roberts	$6,544,115,228.00
18	Virginia	Sandra Bullock	$6,079,663,472.00
19	Texas	Tommy Lee Jones	$5,809,990,920.00
20	North Carolina	Julianne Moore	$5,193,431,524.00
21	Colorado	Tim Allen	$4,764,496,529.00
22	Arizona	Emma Stone	$4,610,894,521.00
23	Alabama	Octavia Spencer	$3,916,393,831.00
24	North Dakota	Josh Duhamel	$3,827,268,852.00
25	Hawaii	Jason Momoa	$3,341,800,774.00
26	Rhode Island	Viola Davis	$3,119,060,046.00
27	West Virginia	Jennifer Garner	$2,758,001,654.00
28	Maine	Patrick Dempsey	$2,681,577,209.00
29	New Mexico	Demi Moore	$2,453,680,877.00
30	Kansas	Annette Bening	$2,414,179,446.00
31	Arkansas	Mary Steenburgen	$2,387,778,355.00
32	Utah	James Woods	$2,368,093,020.00
33	Louisiana	Ellen DeGeneres	$2,335,722,204.00
34	New Hampshire	Mandy Moore	$2,014,784,897.00
35	Mississippi	Oprah Winfrey	$1,625,859,233.00
36	Alaska	Mary Elizabeth Winstead	$1,551,087,250.00
37	Nevada	Matthew Gray Gubler	$1,528,890,538.00
38	South Dakota	January Jones	$1,370,734,293.00
39	Idaho	Aaron Paul	$1,275,731,102.00
40	Delaware	Aubrey Plaza	$1,186,536,901.00
41	Nebraska	Marlon Brando	$1,085,717,759.00
42	Wyoming	Matthew Fox	$933,328,896.00
43	Vermont	Madeleine Stowe	$736,436,193.00
44	Oregon	River Phoenix	$637,976,888.00
45	Ohio	Clark Gable	$468,680,377.00
46	Florida	Sidney Poitier	$431,119,043.00
47	Maryland	Julie Bowen	$373,293,931.00
48	Connecticut	Katharine Hepburn	$247,312,242.00
49	Montana	Gary Cooper	$60,300,061.00
50	Indiana	James Dean	$30,194,679.00

Stats correct 30th March 2023.

Full Data and Method: