People In These States Call In Sick The Most, According To Google

Cough, cough.

Nothing is worse than hearing that sound over a cubicle wall- or worse, seeing your coworker coughing their lung out in your open office. However, for a variety of reasons including lack of PTO, a mountain of work that waits for no flu, and seasonal allergies, workers come in spewing their germs all over the place.

It got us thinking, are workers in some states more likely to call in sick than others? We hit the Google search data to find out.

Key Findings

Workers in Oregon call in sick the most, followed by Hawaii and Iowa.
In general, the West coast and Southwest seem far likelier to call in than other parts of the country.
North Dakota, South Dakota, West Virginia, Wyoming, Alaska, Maine, Delaware, Rhode Island, and Vermont all have bottom of the barrel search traffic for calling in sick.
This either means these states are super healthy– or are super unconcerned about sharing a few germs with coworkers.

States That Call In Sick The Most

How We Determined This

This one was fairly simple. We used the Google search “call in sick”, a common search phrase used by those who intend to call in sick but want to make sure they don’t step on any toes.

While we can’t guarantee all these workers call in sick (they might google, shrug, and go forth and sneeze all over the communal office coffee pot after all), it’s a search with loads of “calling in sick” intentions.

From there, we looked at a year of search volume– giving each workers in each state plenty of time to catch all manners of illnesses (or just get hungover) and need a day off. The higher the search volume, the more workers in that state call in sick.

But really, please don’t go to work sick

We know when you have a fever you’re really hot, but you can still be cool and not go to work sick.

If you’re too busy,

Which states call in sick the most?

Rank	State
1	Oregon
2	Hawaii
3	Iowa
4	Kansas
4	Minnesota
6	Arkansas
7	New Mexico
7	Wisconsin
9	Nevada
10	Colorado
11	Washington
12	Idaho
13	California
14	Indiana
15	Nebraska
16	Michigan
17	Illinois
18	Utah
18	Kentucky
20	Missouri
21	New Hampshire
21	Louisiana
23	Oklahoma
24	Tennessee
25	Arizona
25	Texas
27	Alabama
28	Maryland
28	Connecticut
30	Mississippi
31	Massachusetts
32	North Carolina
33	New York
34	South Carolina
34	Montana
36	Ohio
36	Florida
38	Georgia
39	Pennsylvania
39	Virginia
41	New Jersey
42	North Dakota
42	South Dakota
42	West Virginia
42	Wyoming
42	Alaska
42	Maine
42	Delaware
42	Rhode Island
42	Vermont

Never miss an opportunity that’s right for you.

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.

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