Where Do Dolphins Actually Live in the US?
Dolphins have confirmed sightings in 22 US states, based on 180,918 verified occurrence records.
By Tim, founder of Easy Street Markets. I maintain the wildlife database and verify every animal and source myself.
The states with the strongest confirmed populations are Alabama, Alaska, California, Connecticut, Delaware and Florida, and 16 more. These are real, verified iNaturalist and GBIF occurrence records, not modeled range estimates.
A small number of states (1) have only a handful of unverified or vagrant records, too few to confirm dolphins as an established population there.
Confirmed states (22)
- dolphins in Alabama
- dolphins in Alaska
- dolphins in California
- dolphins in Connecticut
- dolphins in Delaware
- dolphins in Florida
- dolphins in Georgia
- dolphins in Hawaii
- dolphins in Louisiana
- dolphins in Maine
- dolphins in Maryland
- dolphins in Massachusetts
- dolphins in Mississippi
- dolphins in New Jersey
- dolphins in New York
- dolphins in North Carolina
- dolphins in Oregon
- dolphins in Rhode Island
- dolphins in South Carolina
- dolphins in Texas
- dolphins in Virginia
- dolphins in Washington
Unconfirmed (1)
Only a handful of unverified or vagrant records exist for dolphins in New Hampshire, too few to confirm an established population.