How to limit MySQL query results to top 3

Question

I am trying to get this database query to return only the 3 most common states, but somehow I keep getting all the states returned, listed in descending order. Not sure where I am going wrong...?

SELECT state, COUNT(*) as count
FROM Contact
GROUP BY state
HAVING state NOT IN(' ')
ORDER BY COUNT(*) DESC
LIMIT 3

Answer 1

I don't think you're using HAVING correctly.

I would simply use this query

SELECT state, COUNT(1) AS state_count
FROM Contact
WHERE state <> ' '
GROUP BY state
ORDER BY state_count DESC
LIMIT 3

Demo ~ http://sqlfiddle.com/#!2/8fc57/1