3QUESTION 3 OF 3
Answer & explanation
The official answer, with Fermi’s reasoning step by step.
Answer & explanation
Official answer
9,361
towns
How to estimate it
Fermi’s official “Napkin math”
The US has 50 states, so we could try to start by guessing the number of towns per state. Maybe each state has 500 distinct towns/cities. Of those 25,000 towns, how many have a Main Street? One in five says there are 5,000 Main Streets.
- States
- 50
- Towns per state
- × 500
- Have a Main Street (1 in 5)
- ÷ 5
- 50 × 500 ÷ 5
- ≈ 5,000
Rounded assumptions may give a slightly different estimate. The official answer above is the game’s reference value.
Source calculation & reference
- Cities and towns with a Main Street (ThatsThem, Feb 2026)
- 9,361
- Runner-up, Second Street
- 5,849 towns
- ≈
- 9,361 towns
Reference cited by Fermi: ThatsThem, via Stacker (Feb 2026)
How close was your guess?
Your comparison will appear here.
Compare by ratio: divide the larger number by the smaller one. The closer to 1×, the better.