Europeans love to joke that most American's don't even own a passport, but is it true? Upgradetravelbetter.com and Grey's Blog looked at the raw statistics from data.gov, an official website of the United States Government. While it's true that the United States is a much larger country than those in Europe and shares just two major borders, how many Americans actually have their little blue book?

The answer is around 30%. Less than a third of the population is free to cross the border.

The next question these number nuts sought to answer was which states have the highest and lowest issuance rates for passports? To be clear, the data reflects issuance, not ownership of US Passports. So, while one may have been issued a passport in California, but currently lives in Nevada, they would be counted under California.

Here's a look at the top ten states with the highest passport-carrying populations:

1 NEW JERSEY - 68.36%

2 ALASKA - 65.01%

3 MASSACHUSETTS - 63.42%

4 NEW YORK - 62.47%

5 CALIFORNIA - 60.19%

6 NEW HAMPSHIRE - 59.39%

7 CONNECTICUT - 58.50%

8 WASHINGTON - 57.28%

9 VERMONT - 56.32%

10 MARYLAND - 56.21%

These ten states rounded out the bottom of the list with the lowest passport-carrying populations:

41 OKLAHOMA - 33.23%

42 INDIANA - 32.73%

43 SOUTH CAROLINA - 32.09%

44 LOUISIANA - 29.47%

45 TENNESSEE - 28.78%

46 ARKANSAS - 25.14%

47 ALABAMA - 25.03%

48 KENTUCKY - 24.94%

49 WEST VIRGINIA - 20.43%

50 MISSISSIPPI - 19.86%

To take a look at the full state-by-state results, the data used, and more, click here.

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