Americas top city for UFO sightings revealed - and the exact time of day you should watch the skies

If you are hoping to spot a UFO zipping across the evening sky, there is one major US city where your chances are highest, new research has revealed.

Phoenix, Arizona, has been ranked as Americas supernatural hotspot, with a whopping 323 sightings in the last decade, according data from the National UFO Reporting Center compiled by BetUS. 

New York City came in second place with 313 reported incidents and Nevada, which is home to the infamous Area 51,  came in third with 309 alleged sightings.

While the data only goes as far back as 2013, Phoenix has long been a hotbed of paranormal activity - with its biggest UFO event occurring on March 13, 1997.

The city has earned the number one spot with a whopping 323 sightings in the last decade alone

Phoenix has long been a hotbed of paranormal activity - with its most major, and widespread, account of UFO sightings happening on March 13, 1997

On this date, hundreds of people reported seeing The Phoenix Lights.  

The sightings were so widespread that even a 12-year-old Meghan McCain claiming she saw them - with what she witnessed that night leaving a mark.

After her mom allowed her to go out to the yard to take a look, McCain told the DailyMail.com that she saw giant, bright objects floating in a straight line in the distance.

Even today, it is hard to explain, and there are varying descriptions of what happened over Phoenix between approximately 7:30 pm and 10:30 pm, she added.

Years later in 2016, locals in Gilbert, just southeast of Phoenix, claimed they had seen a strange set of three lights moving north to south in the East Valley area.

One resident, Todd, shared footage to his X account, writing in the caption: Did anybody else just see a UFO!? 

Even more eerily, in 2019, a live-stream just outside Phoenix captured a purple beam of light bursting through the foreground, and multiple alleged UFOs were caught zipping through the night sky.

In 2019, a live-stream just outside Phoenix captured a purple beam of light burst through the foreground, and multiple UFOs were caught zipping through the night sky

Around 65 percent of Americans believe that intelligent life exists on other planets, according to Pew Research Center. 

The recent BetUS data showed that some of the other top scoring cities for UFO sightings are in close proximity to notorious locations known for suspected alien activity, such as Area 51 or Roswell, New Mexico. 

Roswell had been dubbed the UFO capital of the world and was believed to be near the site of an alleged alien spaceship crash in 1947 known as the Roswell Incident. 

In the same year, the National UFO Reporting Center was founded and it has processed more than 180,000 reports. 

In 2016, locals in Gilbert, just southeast of Phoenix, claimed to see a strange set of three lights moving north to south in the East Valley area

The city is home to the International UFO Museum and Research Center, which has been open for nearly 30 years and hosts an annual UFO Festival. 

Area 51 in Nevada, meanwhile, is one of the most notorious spots for alien conspiracy theories. The site became forever associated with aliens after an interview in 1989. 

Former government physicist, Robert Lazar, told a Las Vegas news station that the site housed and studied alien spacecraft. He has said it was his job to to recreate the technology for military use, according to National Geographic.    

Other top cities for UFO sightings include Portland, Oregon, in fourth place with 279 reports, and Tuscon, Arizona, ranked fifth with 244 . 

Roswell was dubbed the UFO capital of the world following an alleged spaceship crash in 1947 known as the Roswell Incident. Above, a sign directing Roswell, New Mexico visitors to the start of a 1947 UFO Crash Site Tour circa 1997

A man takes a selfie with his son in front of a sign at the Alien Research Center in Hiko, Nevada on September 21, 2019

Many cities listed were notably large, with more potential eyes looking at the sky and therefore a higher likelihood of a potential sighting. 

On the West Coast, six California cities featured on the list of 200 - with the states highest ranking held by Los Angeles which came in seventh place with 222 sightings. 

According to the BetUS, July is best time of year to spot a UFO in New York, Ohio, Colorado and Oregon - with the most common time between 9pm and 10pm. 

For states such as California and Arizona, November is reportedly the best month to watch the skies. 

In 2019, potential evidence of alien life was announced by an Oxford research project, Breakthrough Listen, with hints that the proof would eventually be released to the public. 

The now retired director of the Pentagon UFO office, Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick (above), spent 2023 engaged in heated public sparring with UFO whistleblowers over alleged retrievals of alien spacecraft 

They had reportedly discovered a signal - a five hour-long burst of radio waves - which appeared to be from a region around 4.2 light years away from Earth.

But the race to find clearer evidence has sparked debate since its discovery. 

Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick - a longtime CIA scientist who headed the US militarys UFO-chasing All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) - recently admitted to the existence of the program to recover alleged alien tech. 

This revelation comes amid decades of speculation and whistleblower testimony alleging that America had been in possession of alien craft for decades.