Are there really Americans who die without ever seeing the ocean or leaving their state?
November 25, 2025
The US is just so huge compared to my country, so it got me wondering
27 comments
Yeah..
Most definitely. Traveling is obviously expensive and there is a TON of poor rural area in the US that you don’t see on tv
Yes! Many states are huge, landlocked, and full of natural beauty.
Also poverty.
Definitely a lot of people who never leave their home state or ever see an ocean.
Yes, definitely plenty who die without ever seeing the ocean.
Yep, plenty of them. It’s a shame too but I think people really underestimate how big this place is.
I work with a lady who hasn’t been out of my town. We live an hour from the state capital and she hasn’t been there.
Of course. Granted it’s not nearly as common as it used to be.
Yeah. Sometimes it’s not even because they lack the resources to do so. They just don’t want to. I’ll never understand it, just how some people are wired. I’m guessing there are people in your country who have never left their hometown as well.
Of course. Not everyone has the means or the interest to travel.
Some, yeah. Some people are just homebodies while others are in poverty and can’t afford to travel.
Absolutely. It wouldn’t be the majority of people, but its not hard to see ut happening.
Sure, there are many many millions of people all over the globe who haven’t seen an ocean.
There are quite a few who die without ever seeing the ocean. It’s a large country and there are tens of millions of people that are over 1,000km from the ocean. There are some few who never leave their state but that’s much rarer than in the past. Obviously that’s more likely to happen in a place like Texas which is bigger than France than it is in Rhode Island which is slightly smaller than Transnistria.
Come to think of it I have no idea if my mother ever saw the ocean. I can’t think of any time she was anywhere near it.
Forget leaving the state; one of my neighbors has never been more than 100 miles from his childhood home. For reference, we are 150 miles from the Canadian border and 130 miles from the state capitol/largest metro area. He’s never been to either.
I have never seen an ocean but the Great Lakes are huge and fresh water which is better to me
There are people in New York City that die without ever leaving their borough (which a bit like a collection of neighborhoods).
It’s entirely possible, yes. I think that might be true for places like the farms in the midwest, esp the huge ones. Farming is a lot of work and usually pass down to each generation. The towns are small, very rural, opportunities to do something else not really available. College isn’t always something that’s a realistic and attainable goal for a lot of families, and usually it will be a state school as those are less expensive. I have friends of modest means who can’t afford to travel to see the coasts. They go to less expensive, regional vacation spots.
Not seeing the ocean is very common.
Not leaving the state is somewhat less common. Even people who don’t travel very far might occasionally cross the nearest state line since there isn’t any kind of checkpoint that needs to be dealt with. But, there are folks who live right in the middle of very large states, and some of them won’t ever leave it
Even worse, some communities are so insular that some of its members never leave the neighborhood
Yeah. There’s even people that live in Los Angeles that have never been to the beach. 🤷♂️
Yes. I was recently swapping emails with a second-cousin who was born, raised, and still lives in Iowa. As a Californian, I was kind of surprised to learn that she’d never seen an ocean…any ocean…in her life. She’s in her 60’s.
I won’t be surprised if there are folks in New York state who have never been to NYC.
You talking about leaving the state. I have met many people in my life who has never been out of their city or even neighborhood. I have met some who grew up in the hood…. lived in subsidized housing….. crossed the street to get their groceries and rello and just got old in the same area.
Yeah, I can only imagine how many 17 year olds and younger die every year, chances are if they lived in the center of the US they may have never seen the ocean. Likewise, if they live in a big state its very possible for them to have never traveled out of it. The first time I left Vermont was for a hockey game in New York, it was some tournament where we spent multiple days in this hotel, I forget the details as I was younger but I remember it being odd as my team was not the one I normally played with but made up of multiple other teams players being put together to form this one.
I have family members who can count on both hands how many times they’ve left their town of 5,000 people. They think the city of Boise, ID is “the big dangerous city”
My 93 year old dad was so excited to get off the farm in Iowa that at 18 he joined the Army and landed in Korea! Since then he has visited almost all 50 states plus other countries.
27 comments
Yeah..
Most definitely. Traveling is obviously expensive and there is a TON of poor rural area in the US that you don’t see on tv
Yes! Many states are huge, landlocked, and full of natural beauty.
Also poverty.
Definitely a lot of people who never leave their home state or ever see an ocean.
Yes, definitely plenty who die without ever seeing the ocean.
Yep, plenty of them. It’s a shame too but I think people really underestimate how big this place is.
I work with a lady who hasn’t been out of my town. We live an hour from the state capital and she hasn’t been there.
Of course. Granted it’s not nearly as common as it used to be.
Yeah. Sometimes it’s not even because they lack the resources to do so. They just don’t want to. I’ll never understand it, just how some people are wired. I’m guessing there are people in your country who have never left their hometown as well.
Of course. Not everyone has the means or the interest to travel.
Some, yeah. Some people are just homebodies while others are in poverty and can’t afford to travel.
Absolutely. It wouldn’t be the majority of people, but its not hard to see ut happening.
Sure, there are many many millions of people all over the globe who haven’t seen an ocean.
There are quite a few who die without ever seeing the ocean. It’s a large country and there are tens of millions of people that are over 1,000km from the ocean. There are some few who never leave their state but that’s much rarer than in the past. Obviously that’s more likely to happen in a place like Texas which is bigger than France than it is in Rhode Island which is slightly smaller than Transnistria.
Come to think of it I have no idea if my mother ever saw the ocean. I can’t think of any time she was anywhere near it.
Forget leaving the state; one of my neighbors has never been more than 100 miles from his childhood home. For reference, we are 150 miles from the Canadian border and 130 miles from the state capitol/largest metro area. He’s never been to either.
I have never seen an ocean but the Great Lakes are huge and fresh water which is better to me
There are people in New York City that die without ever leaving their borough (which a bit like a collection of neighborhoods).
It’s entirely possible, yes. I think that might be true for places like the farms in the midwest, esp the huge ones. Farming is a lot of work and usually pass down to each generation. The towns are small, very rural, opportunities to do something else not really available. College isn’t always something that’s a realistic and attainable goal for a lot of families, and usually it will be a state school as those are less expensive. I have friends of modest means who can’t afford to travel to see the coasts. They go to less expensive, regional vacation spots.
Not seeing the ocean is very common.
Not leaving the state is somewhat less common. Even people who don’t travel very far might occasionally cross the nearest state line since there isn’t any kind of checkpoint that needs to be dealt with. But, there are folks who live right in the middle of very large states, and some of them won’t ever leave it
Even worse, some communities are so insular that some of its members never leave the neighborhood
Yeah. There’s even people that live in Los Angeles that have never been to the beach. 🤷♂️
Yes. I was recently swapping emails with a second-cousin who was born, raised, and still lives in Iowa. As a Californian, I was kind of surprised to learn that she’d never seen an ocean…any ocean…in her life. She’s in her 60’s.
I won’t be surprised if there are folks in New York state who have never been to NYC.
You talking about leaving the state. I have met many people in my life who has never been out of their city or even neighborhood. I have met some who grew up in the hood…. lived in subsidized housing….. crossed the street to get their groceries and rello and just got old in the same area.
Yeah, I can only imagine how many 17 year olds and younger die every year, chances are if they lived in the center of the US they may have never seen the ocean. Likewise, if they live in a big state its very possible for them to have never traveled out of it. The first time I left Vermont was for a hockey game in New York, it was some tournament where we spent multiple days in this hotel, I forget the details as I was younger but I remember it being odd as my team was not the one I normally played with but made up of multiple other teams players being put together to form this one.
I have family members who can count on both hands how many times they’ve left their town of 5,000 people. They think the city of Boise, ID is “the big dangerous city”
My 93 year old dad was so excited to get off the farm in Iowa that at 18 he joined the Army and landed in Korea! Since then he has visited almost all 50 states plus other countries.