Rascasse Audience Intelligence

NHL Fan Demographics in United States

NHL has an estimated audience of 30.1M people in United States.

#1among Ice hockey in United States
#14among events in United States#50in Sports

The average NHL fan in United States is 37.8 years old, more male, and lives primarily in New York.

By number of fans, NHL ranks #1 among the 1380 objects in Ice hockey in United States — 21.8× the group median.

Its fans are 0.6 years younger than the group average of 38.4.

Compared with the other 1379 objects in Ice hockey, NHL fans stand out for their interest in St. Louis Cardinals, New York Yankees and Kansas City Chiefs.

Interest is seasonal: April, May and June account for 50% of the year's searches, August is the quietest month.

Most fans live in New York, California, Florida.

Top affinities include Connor McDavid, Toronto Maple Leafs, Stanley Cup, with strongest over-indexing on Connor McDavid (8.92× the country average).

Demographically, the NHL audience skews more male with an average age of 37.8, and over-indexes on personality traits such as Patriotism, Sports Activity.

The typical NHL fan in United States is more male, around 37.8 years old, with strong Patriotism tendencies and a notable affinity for Connor McDavid.

Category: Sports · Type: Event · Subtype: Ice hockey

Data status: Q2/2026 · Source & method

Section 01

At a glance

Audience size
30.1M
in United States
Gender
35.7%♀
64.3% male
Age
37.8
average years
Country rank
#898
among all objects in United States
Fig. 01

Search interest · 12-month trend

+37%
vs. last year
JanMarMayJulSepNov
Monthly searches · Source: Rascasse Solution
Section 02

Demographics of NHL fans

35.7% are female, 64.3% are male, average age 37.8.

Fig. 02

Gender split

35.7%
Female
64.3%
Male
Demographic split for NHL audience in United States
MetricValue
Female35.7%
Male64.3%
Average age37.8
Estimated audience size30.1M
Fig. 03

Age distribution

Ø 37.8
average years
Age distribution of the NHL audience in United States
Age bracketShare%
16-2426%
25-3421%
35-4418%
45-5418%
55+18%
Fig. 04

Worldwide distribution

42.4%

of the worldwide NHL audience comes from United States.

Worldwide audience distribution share by country for NHL
CountryShare
United States42.4%
Canada19.5%
Japan2.8%
Section 03
Affinity (×) = how much more likely a member of this audience is to live in a region than the United States average. Example: 2.0× means twice as concentrated as the national baseline.

Geography

Fig. 05

Top regions by affinity

NHL fans by region: top regions in United States
#RegionReachAffinity×
01New Hampshire~300K2.16×
02Nevada~600K2.14×
03Colorado~1M1.97×
04Vermont~100K1.91×
05Massachusetts~1M1.89×
06Maine~200K1.79×
07Alaska~100K1.77×
08Minnesota~900K1.69×
09North Dakota~100K1.58×
10New York~3M1.57×
11Rhode Island~100K1.56×
12Pennsylvania~1.5M1.47×
13New Jersey~1M1.37×
14Montana~100K1.32×
15Michigan~1M1.31×
16Connecticut~400K1.25×
17Florida~2M1.09×
18Illinois~1M1.08×
19Utah~300K1.05×
20Arizona~700K1.01×
21North Carolina~1M1.00×
22Delaware~90K0.96×
23South Dakota~80K0.95×
24Washington, District of Columbia~60K0.93×
25Washington~600K0.91×
26Missouri~500K0.89×
27Idaho~100K0.84×
28Maryland~500K0.83×
29Virginia~600K0.82×
30Wisconsin~400K0.81×
31California~3M0.79×
32Hawaii~90K0.70×
33Ohio~700K0.68×
34Oregon~200K0.65×
35New Mexico~100K0.64×
36Iowa~200K0.63×
37South Carolina~300K0.61×
38Tennessee~400K0.58×
39Indiana~300K0.56×
40Nebraska~100K0.55×
41West Virginia~90K0.54×
42Texas~1M0.51×
43Kansas~100K0.46×
44Kentucky~200K0.40×
45Georgia~400K0.39×
46Mississippi~90K0.33×
47Louisiana~100K0.32×
48Arkansas~90K0.32×
49Alabama~100K0.31×
50Oklahoma~100K0.31×
Fig. 06

Affinity by region

Affinity by region — NHL, United States
0.31×1.00×2.16×
Section 04
Brands and objects ranked by affinity with this audience. Values above 1.0× mean over-representation compared with the country average.

Audience interests & affinities

Fig. 07

Top cross-interests, ranked by affinity

Affinities of the NHL audience vs. the country average
#·InterestCategoryAffinity×
01Connor McDavidSports8.92×
02Toronto Maple LeafsSports7.14×
03Stanley CupSports5.15×
04Carolina HurricanesSports3.84×
05Ice hockeySports3.77×
06Minnesota WildSports3.64×
07St. Louis CardinalsSports2.50×
08New York YankeesSports2.01×
09Kansas City ChiefsSports1.96×
10Pittsburgh SteelersSports1.86×
11Green Bay PackersSports1.82×
12Golf clubSports1.74×
13Buffalo BillsSports1.64×
14BatmanMovies & TV1.62×
15NBA playoffsSports1.61×
16NBA FinalsSports1.60×
17PGA TourSports1.59×
18Chicago BearsSports1.59×
19CBS SportsMovies & TV1.54×
20Los Angeles LakersSports1.53×
Section 05
Strongest and weakest personality traits of this audience (1.0 = country average).

Personality of the NHL audience

Fig. 08

Deviation from the national baseline

↑ What stands out
The strongest tendencies
Personality traits of the NHL audience vs. the country average · What stands out
TraitClusterDeviationScore
PatriotismCONSERVATISM1.25×
Sports ActivityPOWER1.15×
Risk AppetiteTHRILL1.09×
0×1.00× baseline2×
↓ Rather not
The weakest tendencies
Personality traits of the NHL audience vs. the country average · Rather not
TraitClusterDeviationScore
Quality AwarenessPREMIUM0.88×
SustainabilityBALANCE0.92×
Career OrientationPOWER0.93×
0×1.00× baseline2×
Appendix

Explore more audiences

More Ice hockey audiences in United States

Source & method

Source
Rascasse Solution, own modelling
What “fans” means here
Estimated number of people in United States with measurable interest in NHL over the last 12 months. Modelled, not counted; people interested in several events count for each of them.
Data basis
Anonymised behavioural signals: search demand, social media signals, sponsorship and event data. Not a survey.
Period
07/2025 – 06/2026 · updated quarterly · data status Q2/2026
Confidence
high gender and age data available and an audience of at least 100,000 people

Cite as: “Rascasse Solution, Q2/2026, rascasse.com/explore/us/nhl-5462” · Methodology