Nerdiest States: Where The Geeks Are At

How do you measure a nerd? Is it Mountain Dew consumption? Glasses worn or tests aced? Amount of weegies given per capita? And where are the most nerds in the US?

We spent a great deal of time deliberating on this highly serious question. In the end, using the definition of nerd as “someone extremely excited or enthusiastic about a subject, typically one of specialist or minority interest” we scoured internet search data to find the nerdiest states.

Keep reading to see our very serious, solemn highlights- and just how nerdy your state (and by extension you) are.

Our Most Interesting, Nerdy Findings

• Utah is the nerdiest state in the whole US.
• In general, the west and Pacific Northwest trends nerdier than most of the country
• You may not think “nerdy” when you think Alaska, but in #2 it’s plenty nerdy.
• What pushes the great white north so far ahead? Their love of Star Trek. Wonder how common Klingon is there…
• Where do the most people don costumes and attack each other with foam swords? Oregon!
• Mississippi is the least nerdy state in the US.
• In general, the south is the least nerdy part of the country.

The Nerdiest States

1. Utah
2. Alaska
3. Oregon
4. Idaho
5. Washington
6. New Hampshire
7. Vermont
8. Colorado
9. Maine
10. Arizona

The Least Nerdy States

1. Mississippi
2. Louisiana
3. South Carolina
4. New York
5. Georgia
6. New Jersey
7. North Carolina
8. Alabama
9. Texas
10. Florida

Scroll to the bottom to see the list of all 50 states, from nerdiest to least nerdy.

How We Figured This Out

We then rounded up the most obsession-driven, nerd-filled hobbies:

• Star Wars
• Star Trek
• Dungeons Dragons
• Live action role-playing game (LARPing)
• Harry Potter

To determine where the biggest fans of hobby or fandom were, we turned to Google Trends to find state-level topic search volume. These topics include searches for things like “Dungeons and Dragons games near me”, deep questions about the Star Wars universe (but also, when the next episode of the Mandalorian is on), and Harry Potter fanfiction.

Basically, all the questions a pretty passionate fan (or nerd) would be looking for. From there, we averaged the search interest of all categories together. The higher the average search interest, the nerdier the state.

It’s Okay, Nerds Are Cool Now

There is nothing to be ashamed of being really passionate about your hobbies and interests. It is in fact, dare I say it, pretty cool. So wave your nerd flag (or Larping sword or carefully cultivated Wookie accent) with pride.

However, you don’t have to settle for being a nerd on your own time. You can find a job worth nerding out about. One with lots of cool, exciting spreadsheets. Or maybe working at a shoe company with

Whatever your passion is, there might just be a company or job that will bring out your inner-nerd during 9-to-5 hours.

Nerdiest States, Ranked From Most Nerdy To Least

Author

Kathy Morris

Kathy is the head of content at Zippia with a knack for engaging audiences. Prior to joining Zippia, Kathy worked at Gateway Blend growing audiences across diverse brands. She graduated from Troy University with a degree in Social Science Education.