It's official: Spammy phone calls have almost doubled in the past two years, and New Jersey and Delaware got hit worst

• There were more than 7 million complaints about violations to the U.S. "Do Not Call" registry this year, a big surge from the more than 5.3 million complaints in 2016.
• The figure is almost double the nearly 3.6 million complaints in 2015.
• New Jersey had the highest density of complaints on the "do not call" registry in 2017.

Bill Hinton | Moment Mobile | Getty Images

There were nearly 7.2 million complaints about violations to the U.S. "Do Not Call" registry this year, a big surge from the more than 5.3 million complaints in 2016.

The figure is almost double the nearly 3.6 million complaints in 2015.

New Jersey had the highest density of complaints on the "do not call" registry in 2017, according to new data released by the Federal Trade Commission on Monday.

For every 100,000 New Jersey residents, there were almost 3,600 complaints about spam calls, the FTC said. Delaware, Florida, Virginia and New Hampshire followed close behind with over 2,700 complaints per 100,000 residents. New Jersey and New Hampshire residents were also among the most likely to be on the "do not call" list.

Alaska, Hawaii, Missouri and North Dakota were relatively spam-free this year, the report said, with fewer than 1,400 complaints per 100,000 residents.

Robocalls were the worst offenders, and the most common topic, by far, was reducing debt. Other popular spam call topics were for timeshares, warranties and medical-related calls, according to the FTC. July and August appeared to be the peak time for spam calls.

The deluge could subside soon: Earlier this year, the Federal Communications Commission gave phone companies more power to block robocalls.

Here's a full breakdown of state rankings by the FTC and some tips on how to cut down on spam callers:

Most "do not call" list violation complaints per 100,000 residents (source FTC)

RANK	CONSUMER STATE	COMPLAINTS	COMPLAINTS PER 100K POPULATION
1	New Jersey	321,393	3,593
2	Delaware	27,691	2,909
3	Florida	588,021	2,853
4	Virginia	232,818	2,768
5	New Hampshire	36,401	2,727
6	Michigan	265,465	2,674
7	Connecticut	94,440	2,641
8	Rhode Island	26,590	2,517
9	Maryland	150,346	2,499
10	Arizona	169,702	2,448
11	Tennessee	158,896	2,389
12	Vermont	14,896	2,385
13	Ohio	276,667	2,382
14	Nevada	69,639	2,369
15	Georgia	242,242	2,350
16	Colorado	129,609	2,339
17	Illinois	295,218	2,306
18	New York	454,100	2,300
19	Massachusetts	156,006	2,290
20	Oregon	93,121	2,275
21	Nebraska	43,255	2,268
22	Alabama	108,003	2,221
23	Maine	29,495	2,215
24	Utah	66,229	2,171
25	Pennsylvania	271,832	2,126
26	California	824,692	2,101
27	Arkansas	61,697	2,065
28	Montana	21,211	2,035
29	Iowa	63,502	2,026
30	Wyoming	11,808	2,017
31	Texas	559,563	2,008
32	South Carolina	99,620	2,008
33	Idaho	33,157	1,970
34	North Carolina	199,407	1,965
35	Kansas	55,207	1,899
36	Louisiana	86,267	1,843
37	New Mexico	37,653	1,809
38	Washington	125,689	1,725
39	Indiana	114,241	1,722
40	Wisconsin	98,352	1,702
41	Minnesota	91,166	1,652
42	Kentucky	72,110	1,625
43	Oklahoma	61,962	1,579
44	West Virginia	28,738	1,569
45	South Dakota	13,316	1,539
46	Mississippi	39,969	1,337
47	North Dakota	9,881	1,304
48	Missouri	74,102	1,216
49	Hawaii	16,055	1,124
50	Alaska	3,041	410
	District of Columbia	24,303	3,568
	Puerto Rico	1,638	48