Card Shop Census 2026: How Many Card Shops Are in the U.S.?

Key findings

8,578card shops in the U.S.

1 per 40KAmericans per card shop

7.81shops per 100K in Wyoming, the highest

47% / 65%sell sports cards / trading card games

4.61★average Google rating (7,103 shops with 5+ reviews)

1,083card shops in Canada

Card shops outnumber comic shops more than 2 to 1. There are 8,578 card shops in the U.S., compared with 3,445 comic book stores and 3,681 coin shops in our sister censuses. Card shops are the most common of the three hobby stores we track.
Small, rural states lead per person. Wyoming has 7.81 card shops per 100,000 residents, followed by New Hampshire, Maine, Alaska and North Dakota. All ten of the top states have fewer than 2.1 million people.
Big states are the least served. Washington State has the fewest card shops per person: 130 shops for about 8.0 million people, or one for every 62,000 residents. Georgia, Virginia and California round out the bottom four.
More shops sell Pokémon and Magic than sports cards. 65% of U.S. card shops carry trading card games such as Pokémon, Magic: The Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh!, and 47% carry sports cards. About 36% sell both. Washington State has the highest share of shops selling sports cards (69%).
New York City is the card shop capital. Counted together, New York City's five boroughs have 137 card shops, more than any other U.S. city. By single address city, Las Vegas leads with 87.

Card shops per capita, every state ranked

Ranked by card shops per 100,000 residents. Click any state to see every shop there.

#	State	Shops	Per 100K	People per shop	Sports cards	TCG
1	Wyoming	46	7.81	12,800	54%	72%
2	New Hampshire	90	6.36	15,700	42%	57%
3	Maine	85	6.01	16,600	38%	55%
4	Alaska	43	5.83	17,100	53%	77%
5	North Dakota	45	5.63	17,800	67%	69%
6	Montana	62	5.42	18,500	37%	58%
7	South Dakota	46	4.92	20,300	39%	52%
8	Vermont	31	4.81	20,800	39%	61%
9	Rhode Island	53	4.76	21,000	55%	55%
10	Idaho	88	4.34	23,100	49%	64%
11	Delaware	45	4.25	23,600	49%	44%
12	Nevada	135	4.11	24,300	39%	54%
13	Hawaii	58	4.05	24,700	47%	62%
14	West Virginia	70	3.96	25,200	34%	46%
15	New Mexico	84	3.95	25,300	49%	73%
16	Utah	136	3.84	26,000	54%	74%
17	Iowa	121	3.74	26,800	48%	64%
18	Oregon	154	3.60	27,800	45%	64%
19	Nebraska	72	3.57	28,000	43%	68%
20	Kansas	103	3.46	28,900	47%	69%
21	Indiana	236	3.38	29,500	35%	53%
22	Connecticut	121	3.28	30,500	30%	44%
23	Arkansas	100	3.21	31,100	50%	59%
24	Oklahoma	127	3.08	32,500	46%	64%
25	Missouri	184	2.93	34,100	45%	55%
26	Wisconsin	174	2.91	34,300	48%	60%
27	Alabama	149	2.87	34,900	50%	65%
28	Colorado	170	2.83	35,400	58%	75%
29	New Jersey	268	2.81	35,600	44%	46%
30	Massachusetts	198	2.77	36,100	43%	39%
31	Tennessee	200	2.73	36,600	48%	68%
32	Arizona	207	2.72	36,800	53%	67%
33	Louisiana	124	2.68	37,200	52%	74%
34	Ohio	308	2.59	38,600	44%	55%
35	Minnesota	150	2.57	38,900	44%	59%
36	Michigan	256	2.53	39,600	46%	59%
37	South Carolina	140	2.51	39,800	59%	78%
38	Pennsylvania	314	2.40	41,600	45%	55%
39	Mississippi	66	2.23	44,800	48%	61%
40	North Carolina	244	2.18	45,900	44%	70%
41	Illinois	273	2.15	46,600	45%	61%
42	Florida	497	2.12	47,200	50%	74%
43	Maryland	131	2.09	47,800	40%	50%
44	New York	414	2.07	48,300	42%	59%
45	Kentucky	94	2.04	49,000	62%	82%
46	Texas	628	1.98	50,500	52%	83%
47	California	742	1.89	53,000	53%	76%
48	Virginia	164	1.85	54,100	38%	64%
49	Georgia	196	1.73	57,700	46%	65%
50	Washington	130	1.62	61,500	69%	93%
51	Washington, D.C.	6	0.86	115,600	67%	67%

Population: U.S. Census Bureau estimates for July 1, 2025. Washington, D.C. is listed for completeness. "Sports cards" and "TCG" are the share of shops in that state whose listing shows sports cards or trading card games (Pokémon, Magic: The Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh! and others). Many shops sell both.

States with the most card shops

#	State	Shops	Per 100K
1	California	742	1.89
2	Texas	628	1.98
3	Florida	497	2.12
4	New York	414	2.07
5	Pennsylvania	314	2.40
6	Ohio	308	2.59
7	Illinois	273	2.15
8	New Jersey	268	2.81
9	Michigan	256	2.53
10	North Carolina	244	2.18

Cities with the most card shops

Counts use the city in each shop's street address, so suburbs and boroughs count separately. Counted as one city, New York City's five boroughs have 137 card shops.

#	City	Shops
1	Las Vegas, NV	87
2	Los Angeles, CA	44
3	Brooklyn, NY	44
4	Houston, TX	41
5	Miami, FL	41
6	Phoenix, AZ	40
7	San Antonio, TX	37
8	New York, NY	34
9	Austin, TX	34
10	Indianapolis, IN	33
11	El Paso, TX	32
12	Albuquerque, NM	31
13	Jacksonville, FL	31
14	Fresno, CA	31
15	Virginia Beach, VA	30

Card shops in Canada

We count 1,083 card shops across Canada. Ontario has 399 of them, more than a third of the national total.

Province or territory	Shops
Ontario	399
Quebec	183
British Columbia	169
Alberta	130
Manitoba	46
Saskatchewan	41
Nova Scotia	40
Prince Edward Island	23
New Brunswick	21
Newfoundland and Labrador	13
Yukon	10
Northwest Territories	8

How we counted

Source. Every shop listed in the LocalCardShopsNearMe directory as of October 16, 2026, built from Google Maps sweeps of every U.S. metro plus shop submissions.
What counts as a card shop. Stores that sell trading cards: sports card shops, trading card game stores, and comic, hobby and collectibles shops with a real card section. Big-box stores, video-game chains, and train, RC and craft hobby shops are left out.
Website check. On October 13 and 16 we loaded the website of every borderline listing and removed about 1,200 that never mention cards: train and RC hobby shops, toy and baby stores, video-game chains and similar.
No double counting. Listings with the same name and street address are counted once.
Population. U.S. Census Bureau state estimates for July 1, 2025.
Ratings. Google ratings, averaged only across shops with five or more reviews.

Shops open and close every month, so treat these numbers as a snapshot. Know a shop we're missing? Add it here and it'll count in the next update.

Related: the Comic Shop Census and the Coin Shop Census use the same method.

Use this data

The Card Shop Census is free to quote, chart and republish under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. All we ask is a credit and a link back to this page.

Source: Card Shop Census 2026, LocalCardShopsNearMe.com
https://localcardshopsnearme.com/card-shop-census

Download the full state table (CSV). Reporters who need a custom cut of the data (a single metro, a specific region) can email hello@coastaldirectoryllc.com.

Frequently asked questions

How many card shops are there in the United States?

LocalCardShopsNearMe counts 8,578 card shops in the United States as of October 16, 2026, about one for every 40,000 residents. Canada adds 1,083 more.

Which state has the most card shops?

California has the most card shops by raw count (742), followed by Texas (628), Florida (497) and New York (414). Per person, Wyoming leads with 7.81 shops per 100,000 residents.

Which state has the fewest card shops per person?

Among the 50 states, Washington State has the fewest card shops per capita: 130 shops for about 8.0 million people, or 1.62 per 100,000 residents.

Are there more card shops or comic shops?

Card shops. We count 8,578 card shops in the U.S. and about 3,445 comic book stores, so card shops outnumber comic shops by more than two to one. Many shops sell both.

Can I use this data in an article?

Yes. The Card Shop Census is free to quote, chart and republish under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Please credit LocalCardShopsNearMe and link to this page. The full state table is also available as a CSV download.

Version 1 · October 16, 2026. Next update planned for January 2027.

The 2026 Card Shop Census