Since we recently got our FAA drone license, we thought it’d be interesting to see the top places in the country for commercial drone registrations based on the latest data from May 2016 on the FAA Drone Registry site. The FAA isn’t making the last years worth of data publicly available yet, but we thought this data would be better than nothing We not only wanted to scope out the competition density in some key markets, but we’re honestly interested to know where drones are catching on, and where they’re still largely absent!
The Top 10 States For Commercial Drone Registrations
If you’re going to go to the West Coast or down South, you better get ready to compete big time in a crowded commercial drone market! California came in as the easy #1 with over 1,200 individual commercial drone registrations, but to our surprise Florida and Texas came in at #2 and #3 respectively, with New York only a very distant #4 on the registry totals. These numbers likely represent both the commercial potential on those markets for drone pilots, and also possibly the degree of restriction each state might put on their ‘no drone zones’ that can discourage commercial drone pilots from getting too established. The lowest states in the USA were Delaware (12), Wyoming (14) and Rhode Island (20).
- 1. California: 1,211
- 2. Florida: 627
- 3. Texas: 609
- 4. New York: 310
- 5. Georgia: 278
- 6. Pennsylvania: 252
- 7. Colorado: 247
- 8. North Carolina: 247
- 9. Alabama: 246
- 10. Ohio: 244
The Top 10 Counties For Commercial Drone Registrations
Not too surprising, most of the top 10 counties for commercial drone registrations were in California or other West-coast areas, but kudos to Florida, Illinois and Texas for hitting the list too. The biggest surprise was Montgomery County in Alabama as the #3 county in the whole USA, must be something special going on in the south! It was also interesting to note that MANY counties did not have even ONE commercial drone registration. If you are looking to get started in the drone business, one of those under-represented areas may be the best place to start!
- 1. CA – Los Angeles County: 303
- 2. CA – San Mateo County: 196
- 3. AL – Montgomery County: 144
- 4. CA – San Diego County: 128
- 5. AZ – Maricopa County: 101
- 6. CA – Orange County: 94
- 7. TX – Harris County: 76
- 8. WA – King County: 75
- 9. IL – Cook County (Chicago): 72
- 10. FL – Miami-Dade: 65
Still Need To Register Your Drone?
Not on the map yet as a legally registered commercial drone owner? If you need to register your drone to fly commercially you need to get started here with the FAA. Recreational flying may no longer require registration based on a very recent court ruling, but if you fly commercially you still need to register your drone and pass the tests!
We fly drones commercially too, so if you have any questions or need a quick drone-flight job done, let us know!
