This story was originally published on mynorthwest.com.
A ranking of the top 10 funniest cities in America landed Seattle in the No. 7 spot on the list based on comedy data.
The study from TicketSource weighed four categories related to each city’s comedy scene and tallied them into a “comedy score” out of 10.
In order to calculate where Americans are laughing the hardest, TicketSource analyzed live comedy scenes across the nation and ranked cities based on venue density, audience demand, upcoming ticketed events, and the number of comedians they have produced.
“Comedy scenes succeed in different ways, but the strongest ones tend to share a few things in common — plenty of venues, events, and demand,” TicketSource stated.
Seattle scores high for comedy venues, local comedians despite recent venue controversy
Seattle offers 8.8 comedy clubs and venues per 100,000 people, making it the sixth-highest among the 10 cities. As for the number of comedy-related searches per 100,000 people in Seattle, there were more than 116,00 such searches. TicketSource noted that all per 100,000 and ticketed comedy events data were collected between January and March.
Seattle-born comedians, such as Adam Ray and Dustin Nickerson, also helped bolster the city’s ranking, with 12 notable comedians born there. Tenth-ranked Chicago led this category with 82 Chicago-born comedians.
So far in 2026, there are 14.2 ticketed comedy events per 100,000 people, which ranked the city at No. 7 on the list. San Francisco held the top spot for the number of ticketed comedy events with 33.2.
The full list of the funniest U.S. cities includes:
- Boston, Massachusetts
- Washington, D.C.
- San Francisco, California
- Atlanta, Georgia
- Orlando, Florida
- St. Louis, Missouri
- Seattle, Washington
- Miami, Florida
- Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Chicago, Illinois
Comedian banned from Seattle venue for ‘hate speech’ after controversial set
While on an international tour, comedian Wyatt Feegrado stopped by the Seattle comedy venue The Rabbit Box for a show that ended with him being banned.
Feegrado took to Instagram to explain the situation in detail, stating that after his sold-out performance, The Rabbit Box sent a letter to attendees claiming parts of his set included language that “could have been offensive.”
“It has come to our attention that the performers were perhaps using speech and/or language that could have been offensive to members of our community,” The Rabbit Box stated in its email. “While we do support Freedom of Speech, we do not support harmful speech to other individuals.”
In response, Feegrado said that he “just did [his] regular act,” and “didn’t do any jokes he would deem as hate speech.”
He noted his set does touch on dark comedy, pedophilia, the Epstein files, Israel, and trans people.
“I basically hit every topic that they tell you not to hit,” Feegado said. “They also said that they were banning me from the venue, and that I’d never be there again. That’s fine. I don’t care.”
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