The States with the Most Winter-Olympic Gold Medals
To find out which states’ have brought home the most Winter Olympic gold medals for Team USA, our team at The Sports Geek reviewed every American gold medal win since 1924. We then ranked states by total gold medals and spotlighted the most iconic athletes from each state.
Key Highlights:
- Since 1924, Team USA has won 135 Winter Olympic gold medals, with just five states accounting for more than half of that total.
- New York tops the state leaderboard with 28 Winter Olympic gold medals, more than any other U.S. state since 1924.
- California’s Chloe Kim became the youngest woman ever to win Olympic snowboarding gold at age 17 and the first woman to defend a halfpipe Olympic title.
- Illinois 1972 Olympic gold medalist Dianne Holum later coached Wisconsin’s Eric Heiden, who delivered one of the greatest Winter Olympic performances ever: five gold medals at Lake Placid 1980.
A State-by-State Map of Team USA’s Winter Olympic Gold
To visualise how Winter Olympic gold medals are distributed across the country, we mapped Team USA’s gold medal success by state. The map shows where America’s most decorated Winter Olympians come from. It also helps put each state’s medal count into context before we break down the top performers below.
![Winter_Olympic_Gold_Medals_by_State[1]](https://www.thesportsgeek.com/app/uploads/2026/01/Winter_Olympic_Gold_Medals_by_State1-2-1.jpg)
The Top 5 US States with Most Winter Olympic Gold Medals
The Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics begin on 6 February, bringing together athletes from around the world after years of training to compete for winter-sport glory. Since the first Winter Games in 1924, Team USA has won 135 gold medals. But which U.S. states have brought home the largest share of those medals?
To find out, our team at The Sports Geek analyzed every Team USA Winter Olympic gold medalist since 1924. We also took a deeper dive into the stories behind the stats, spotlighting standout athletes and the moments that helped shape each state’s Winter Olympic success.
![Top_10_US_States_by_Winter_Olympic_Gold_Medals[1]](https://www.thesportsgeek.com/app/uploads/2026/01/Top_10_US_States_by_Winter_Olympic_Gold_Medals1-2-1.jpg)
#1 New York – 28 medals 🏅❄️
With an incredible 28 gold medals, New York holds the record for the most Winter Olympic gold medals by state. That success has spanned almost the entire history of the Winter Games, with New Yorkers reaching the top of the podium across nearly every decade of the Winter Games since 1924. The only two decades in which a New Yorker did not win gold were the 1950s and 1970s.
One of the state’s standout contributors is speed skating icon Bonnie Blair, one of the most successful American Winter Olympians of all time. Blair captured five Olympic gold medals and is the only woman to win the Olympic 500m title at three straight Games (1988, 1992, 1994).
New York’s presence at the top has continued into the modern era, most recently through Christopher Lillis, who won gold in mixed team aerials at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
#2 California – 16 medals🏅❄️
With gold medals across skating, snowboarding, figure and speed skating, plus freestyle and alpine skiing, California is the second most decorated state in U.S. Winter Olympic history with 16 gold medals.
Two of the state’s biggest contributors are snowboarders Chloe Kim and Shaun White.
At PyeongChang 2018, Kim became the youngest woman ever to win Olympic snowboarding gold in the halfpipe at just 17 years old, then defended her title at Beijing 2022, becoming the first woman to win two Olympic gold medals in halfpipe.
The only Californian with more Winter Olympic golds is Shaun White, the San Diego-born “Flying Tomato” whose nickname was inspired by his shock of red hair flying out from under his helmet. White competed in five Winter Olympics and won three men’s halfpipe gold medals at Turin 2006, Vancouver 2010, and PyeongChang 2018.
#3 Illinois – 11 medals 🏅❄️
Illinois takes a top-three spot for Winter Olympic success by state, earning 11 gold medals across bobsledding, speed skating, and figure skating. Central to Illinois’ Winter Olympic success are speed skaters Dianne Holum and Shani Davis, who both left a distinct mark on the sport.
After winning Olympic gold in 1972, Holum moved into coaching and helped shape the next generation of Olympians. She worked with Eric Heiden, at the time 14, guiding him toward the 1980 Winter Olympics, where he captured five gold medals.
Decades later, Chicago-born Shani Davis continued Illinois’ speed skating tradition at the highest level. After setting three world records in 2005, including a then-world-record 1500m time of 1:43.33, Davis won two Olympic gold medals for Team USA in the men’s 1000m at Turin 2006 and again at Vancouver 2010.
#4 Wisconsin – 9 medals 🏅❄️
With nine gold medals won by five athletes, Wisconsin has built an impressive Winter Olympic record, with every gold coming in speed skating. The states long-standing local clubs and access to indoor ice helped produce elite skaters capable of competing across both sprint and endurance distances.
Gold medals were won by Wisconsinites across distances ranging from the 500m to the 10,000m, including the women’s 1000m.
At the center of Wisconsin’s medal count is Eric Heiden, who won five of the state’s nine gold medals. Heiden, trained by Illinois’ Dianne Holum, remains the most successful athlete at a single edition of the Winter Olympics since the 1980 Games, and was inducted into the United States Olympic Hall of Fame in 1983 at just 25 years old.
#5 Michigan – 7 medals🏅❄️
Michiganders have won seven Winter Olympic gold medals at the Innsbruck, Sochi, and Beijing Games. The state’s first gold came in 1964, when Terry McDermott won the men’s 500m speed skating event in Innsbruck, Austria. Twelve years later, in 1976, Michigander Sheila Young captured gold in the women’s 500m, also in Innsbruck.
In the 21st century, Michigan’s success has come from figure skating and ice dancing athletes. At the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, Meryl Davis and Charlie White made history by becoming the first Americans ever to win Olympic gold in ice dancing. Their performance also set a world record score under the judging system at the time.
Michigan added three more gold medals at Beijing 2022, with Evan Bates and Madison Hubbell winning gold in the team figure skating event, alongside a gold from Nick Baumgartner in mixed team snowboard cross.
Honorable Mentions: States Just Outside the Top 5
Just outside the top rankings, several states have still played a boosting Team USA’s Winter Olympic gold medal total. Utah has claimed six gold medals, while Connecticut follows with five. New Jersey, North Carolina, Washington, Vermont, and Ohio have each secured four gold medals at the Winter Olympics.
| State (total gold medals) | Athlete | What they won |
|---|---|---|
| Utah (6) | Ted Ligety | Men’s combined alpine skiing (2006); Men’s giant slalom alpine skiing (2014) |
| Joss Christensen | Men’s slopestyle freestyle skiing (2014) | |
| Steve Holcomb | Men’s 4-man bobsleigh (2010) | |
| Nathan Chen | Men’s singles figure skating (2022); Team event figure skating (2022) | |
| Connecticut (5) | Jennison Heaton | Men’s skeleton (1928) |
| Jimmy Shea Jr. | Men’s skeleton (2002) | |
| Zachary Donohue | Team event figure skating (2022) | |
| Lindsey Jacobellis | Women’s snowboard cross (2022); Mixed team snowboard cross (2022) | |
| New Jersey (4) | Dick Button | Men’s figure skating (1948; 1952) |
| Donna Weinbrecht | Women’s moguls freestyle skiing (1992) | |
| Nikki Stone | Women’s aerials freestyle skiing (1998) | |
| North Carolina (4) | Anne Henning | 500m women’s speed skating (1972) |
| Joey Cheek | 500m men’s speed skating (2006) | |
| Seth Wescott | Men’s snowboard cross (2006; 2010) | |
| Washington (4) | Gretchen Fraser | Women’s slalom alpine skiing (1948) |
| Phil Mahre | Men’s slalom alpine skiing (1984) | |
| Apolo Anton Ohno | 1500m men’s short track speed skating (2002); 500m men’s short track speed skating (2006) |
Methodology
We reviewed every Winter Olympic gold medal won by Team USA athletes since 1924. For each gold medal, we recorded the athlete’s name, the year the medal was won, the Games location, and the sport, then matched each athlete to their birthplace state. We then totaled gold medals by state to rank which U.S. states have produced the most Team USA Winter Olympic gold medalists.
What Could Change at Milano Cortina 2026?
What do you make of the Winter Olympic gold medal count by state? With the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics approaching, the all-time rankings are set to evolve once again as a new generation of athletes competes on snow and ice.
From established winter-sport powerhouses to states still adding to their totals, the next Games will offer plenty of opportunities for the leaderboard to shift and for new stories to emerge.
| Rank | State & total medals | Athlete | Sport(s) they won in (with year) |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | New York – 28 medals | Charles Jewtraw | Speed skating — 500m men (1924) |
| Richard Parke | Bobsleigh — 5-man men (1928) | ||
| Curtis Stevens | Bobsleigh — 2-man men (1932) | ||
| Hubert Stevens | Bobsleigh — 2-man men (1932) | ||
| Jay O’Brien | Bobsleigh — 4-man men (1932) | ||
| Jack Shea | Speed skating — 500m men (1932); 1500m men (1932) | ||
| Irving Jaffee | Speed skating — 5000m men (1932); 10,000m men (1932) | ||
| Ivan Brown | Bobsleigh — 2-man men (1936) | ||
| Alan Washbond | Bobsleigh — 2-man men (1936) | ||
| William D’Amico | Bobsleigh — 4-man men (1948) | ||
| Patrick Martin | Bobsleigh — 4-man men (1948) | ||
| Edward Rimkus | Bobsleigh — 4-man men (1948) | ||
| Francis Tyler | Bobsleigh — 4-man men (1948) | ||
| Carol Heiss | Figure skating — Ladies singles (1960) | ||
| Bonnie Blair | Speed skating — 500m women (1988; 1992; 1994); 1000m women (1992; 1994) | ||
| Cathy Turner | Short track speed skating — 500m women (1992; 1994) | ||
| Diann Roffe | Alpine skiing — Super-G women (1994) | ||
| Sarah Hughes | Figure skating — Ladies singles (2002) | ||
| Bill Demong | Nordic combined — large hill / 10 km (2010) | ||
| Steve Mesler | Bobsleigh — 4-man men (2010) | ||
| Christopher Lillis | Freestyle skiing — Mixed team aerials (2022) | ||
| #2 | California – 16 medals | Nion Tocker | Bobsleigh — 5-man men (1928) |
| Peggy Fleming | Figure skating — Ladies singles (1968) | ||
| Bill Johnson | Alpine skiing — Downhill men (1984) | ||
| Brian Boitano | Figure skating — Men’s singles (1988) | ||
| Kristi Yamaguchi | Figure skating — Ladies singles (1992) | ||
| Derek Parra | Speed skating — 1500m men (2002) | ||
| Shaun White | Snowboarding — Halfpipe men (2006; 2010; 2018) | ||
| Jamie Anderson | Snowboarding — Slopestyle women (2014; 2018) | ||
| Maddie Bowman | Freestyle skiing — Halfpipe women (2014) | ||
| Chloe Kim | Snowboarding — Halfpipe women (2018; 2022) | ||
| Karen Chen | Figure skating — Team event (2022) | ||
| Vincent Zhou | Figure skating — Team event (2022) | ||
| #3 | Illinois – 11 medals | Billy Fiske | Bobsleigh — 5-man men (1928); 4-man men (1932) |
| Clifford Grey | Bobsleigh — 5-man men (1928); 4-man men (1932) | ||
| Ken Henry | Speed skating — 500m men (1952) | ||
| Dianne Holum | Speed skating — 1500m women (1972) | ||
| Dorothy Hamill | Figure skating — Ladies singles (1976) | ||
| Shani Davis | Speed skating — 1000m men (2006; 2010) | ||
| Evan Lysacek | Figure skating — Men’s singles (2010) | ||
| Alexa Knierim | Figure skating — Team event (2022) | ||
| #4 | Wisconsin – 9 medals | Peter Mueller | Speed skating — 1000m men (1976) |
| Eric Heiden | Speed skating — 500m; 1000m; 1500m; 5000m; 10,000m men (all 1980) | ||
| Dan Jansen | Speed skating — 1000m men (1994) | ||
| Casey FitzRandolph | Speed skating — 500m men (2002) | ||
| Chris Witty | Speed skating — 1000m women (2002) | ||
| #5 | Michigan – 7 medals | Terry McDermott | Speed skating — 500m men (1964) |
| Sheila Young | Speed skating — 500m women (1976) | ||
| Meryl Davis | Figure skating — Ice dancing (2014) | ||
| Charlie White | Figure skating — Ice dancing (2014) | ||
| Evan Bates | Figure skating — Team event (2022) | ||
| Madison Hubbell | Figure skating — Team event (2022) | ||
| Nick Baumgartner | Snowboarding — Mixed team snowboard cross (2022) |
![Winter_Olympic_Gold_Medals_by_State_(2)[1]](https://www.thesportsgeek.com/app/uploads/2026/01/Winter_Olympic_Gold_Medals_by_State_21-2-1.jpg)
