Yes, a ‘beauty score’ exists. No, Idaho didn’t win. Here’s where the Gem State ranks

Travelers recognize the United States as a highly geographically diverse nation. Charming coasts, pristine beaches, mountains, forests, deserts, parks — we truly do have it all.

But where does Idaho fit in among these 50 states? According to APR Travel, the Gem State ranks as the 12th most naturally beautiful state. That isn’t based solely on opinion, even though it might want to make Idahoans gird for a fight.

APR used a methodology to assign each state a “beauty score.” These scores were calculated by considering mountains with the highest elevations and the number of named mountains, national parks, waterfalls, large natural lakes and beaches. Every category was scored and then averaged for each state to assign the official beauty score.

Idaho’s beauty score landed at 5.61.

States that scored similarly to Idaho were New York (6.12), Maine (5.89), Arizona (5.41) and Michigan (5.37).

The winning state was right next to Idaho: Washington. It is home to 8,000 lakes, 3,167 named mountains, 3,132 waterfalls and 1,368 beaches.

There are 332 waterfalls in Idaho, according to the World Waterfall Database, the largest of which is Goat Falls near Stanley, which drops water 650 feet.

Peak Visor, a mountain-tracking database, says there are more than 2,800 named mountains in Idaho, 72 reaching higher than 10,000 feet. Idaho also features three ultra-prominent peaks, which are mountains with a prominence of over 4,900 feet — Borah Peak (5,981), Diamond Peak (5,377) and He Devil (5,233).

One of the most significant marks against Idaho, it could do nothing about: a lack of beaches. APR Travel took that metric into account.

But the Gem State made a lot of that up by the number of natural lakes in the state: around 2,000, according to Lake Near Me. The largest natural lake in Idaho is Lake Pend Oreille, which is 43 miles long and has 111 miles of shoreline. The lake also ranks as the 38th-largest lake by area in the U.S.

APR Travel also ranked states based on the number of national parks within state boundaries. Idaho can lay a 1% claim to Yellowstone National Park, with the park’s western border crossing into the Gem State. Outside of that, Idaho does not have national parks. It does have the Sawtooth National Recreation Area, which underwent a tug-of-war over national park status for much of the 20th century.

Alaska takes the cake for the state with the most mountains taller than 1,500 meters: 64. California has the most named peaks (8,008) and most national parks (9).

Florida has the most lakes, with more than 30,000 large natural water formations.