The 10 Nerdiest States (And Where The Nerds Want To Avoid)

Nerdiest States Research Summary

The nerdiest state in the U.S. is Utah, with the highest number of searches for nerdy hobbies.

The least nerdy state in the U.S. is Mississippi, where folks are too busy drinking sweet tea on game night to play D&D.

There are between 12-15 million active Dungeons and Dragons players in the U.S.

Star Trek has at least 15 million American fans, while 18% of Americans have read all of the Harry Potter books.

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 a 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.

Other Important Findings

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 most people don costumes and attack each other with foam swords? Oregon!
In general, the south is the least nerdy part of the country.

The Nerdiest States

The Least Nerdy States

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 when you’re 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.

the Nerdiest States, Ranked From Most Nerdy To Least

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

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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