Laura Kaeppeler: Statistics on Past Miss America Winners

Laura Kaeppeler, a 23-year old woman from Wisconsin, won the 2012 Miss America beauty pageant on Saturday in Las Vegas. She is only the second contestant from the Badger State to be so crowned since the pageant began in 1921.

Here are some other tidbits of information about past Miss American winners:

The three states with the highest number of beauty queens -- California, Ohio and Oklahoma – boast six winners each. California and Ohio makes sense since they are among the most populous states -- as of 2011, California had the largest population of any U.S. state, with about 37.7-million people, while Ohio ranked seventh, with 11.5-million.

However, Oklahoma only has about 3.9-million residents, making it the 28th most populous states. Yet, it has won six of the 92 beauty awards since they were handed out.

Or, consider it this way, as of 2011, Oklahoma accounted for only about 1.2 percent of the nation’s population – yet the state has delivered 6.5 percent of Miss America winners.

Clearly, the women in Oklahoma are doing something right.

Another extraordinary state for beautiful women is apparently Mississippi -- they have won four national beauty titles. However, Mississippi is one of the least populated states in the country – ranking 31st, with barely 3-million people.

Interestingly, Texas and New York, the second and third largest states in the land by population (about 25.7-million 19.4-million people, respectively) can only claim three beauty pageants champions each.

Even more surprising, the fourth most populous state, Florida (renowned for its beaches, warm weather and bikini-clad women) has only had two Miss America title holders. That’s the same number that the tiny District of Columbia has won (although none since 1944).

Moreover, beauty contestant winners appear to be concentrated in only three-fifths of the country – that is to say, twenty states have never had a Miss America winner.

They comprise: Alaska, Delaware, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington (state), West Virginia and Wyoming.

Most of these “losing” states are sparsely populated – except for Massachusetts (14th in the nation with 6.6-million people) and Maryland (19th with 5.8 million).

On the other hand, the relative populations of the states may be meaningless, since, theoretically, all 52 contestants (including two from U.S. territories Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands) have an equal chance of winning every year.