States Ranked By Nerdiness

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**Ahtman**

Source

There’s a lot to consider when choosing which state to live in. Will the locals trade Pokemon cards with you? Will you be mocked for LARPing in the park? Will you meet others who enjoy dressing up like Star Wars characters? For those who harbor interests considered nerdy or geekish, not all states are created equal. Estately crunched the numbers to determine which U.S. states have the most nerds per capita.

To do this, we analyzed Facebook data for every U.S. state and the District of Columbia to determine the percentage of users who listed these 12 criteria as interests:

Star Trek: The Next Generation
Cosplay
Harry Potter
Star Wars
Anime Movies
Dungeons & Dragons
LARPing (Live Action Role-Playing)
Doctor Who
Fantasy Lit
Lord of the Rings
Magic: The Gathering
Comic Books

The numbers in the chart below represent a state’s overall rank for per capita interest in each of the 12 subjects. States are ranked from most nerdy to least nerdy.
In looking at the map and chart, a few things stand out…

The South is a virtual nerd desert, and a damn hard place to get a game of D&D going.
Rural western states are prime habitat for nerds.
States with large populations don’t tend to have high percentages of nerds.
Rhode Island is an island of nerdom along the coast of the Atlantic.
California is the only place in the West where you can go to a Harry Potter movie and not sit behind a grown woman in a wizard hat.
Utah is just so unbelievably nerdy it could be a Harry Potter theme park.
If you want to get stuffed in a locker bring your Pokemon cards to school in Mississippi, New Jersey, or Washington, DC.

**chaos0xomega**

New Jersey being listed as one of the least nerd friendly states instantly invalidates this study in my eyes, either that or I have been blessed in meeting people who are almost exclusively nerdy and or nerd-friendly.

**Platuan4th**

chaos0xomega wrote:
New Jersey being listed as one of the least nerd friendly states instantly invalidates this study in my eyes, either that or I have been blessed in meeting people who are almost exclusively nerdy and or nerd-friendly.

I thought the same thing regarding Louisiana and Mississippi. The LARP I used to attend had members from both states and got so large, they had to institute a limit on attendance before finally finding a campground big enough to accommodate that many people.

**chaos0xomega**

I mean ffs, Kevin Smith is from New Jersey, his films are pretty popular here, and filled with nerdy stuff. George RR Martin is also a NJ native (though hes been living in N. Mexico for a while now)

**Platuan4th**

It's also a flawed method of data gathering, IMO. They analyzed Facebook data of the most popular "nerd" likes? Hell, I don't list close to half my interests on Facebook because I just don't have the time to see if they have a page for it or not.

There's a nice chunk of that list(Harry Potter, Anime, LotR, TNG[?! Why specifically that one?], Star Wars, and, by this point, Dr. Who) that's very popular these days with people I wouldn't classify as nerd.

**dementedwombat**

Platuan4th wrote:
It's also a flawed method of data gathering, IMO. They analyzed Facebook data of the most popular "nerd" likes? Hell, I don't list close to half my interests on Facebook because I just don't have the time to see if they have a page for it or not.

There's a nice chunk of that list(Harry Potter, Anime, LotR, TNG[?! Why specifically that one?], Star Wars, and, by this point, Dr. Who) that's very popular these days with people I wouldn't classify as nerd.

I read about this a couple days ago. Rather agree. I would not show up as a nerd at all by this metric, and I play games involving orbital mechanics in my spare time

**chaos0xomega**

Platuan4th wrote:
It's also a flawed method of data gathering, IMO. They analyzed Facebook data of the most popular "nerd" likes? Hell, I don't list close to half my interests on Facebook because I just don't have the time to see if they have a page for it or not.

There's a nice chunk of that list(Harry Potter, Anime, LotR, TNG[?! Why specifically that one?], Star Wars, and, by this point, Dr. Who) that's very popular these days with people I wouldn't classify as nerd.

This is also true... I actually didn't like "Star Wars" on facebook until today, and still don't like anime, lotr, star trek, etc.

demented - you talking about Kerbal Space Program? lol

**Ahtman**

Platuan4th wrote:
There's a nice chunk of that list(Harry Potter, Anime, LotR, TNG[?! Why specifically that one?], Star Wars, and, by this point, Dr. Who) that's very popular these days with people I wouldn't classify as nerd.

No, all that stuff is still really nerdy. Don't lie to yourself.

**Hybrid Son Of Oxayotl**

Title seemed interesting, and then I discover “states” meant “part of the united states” rather than, well, any other state in the world. And I was disappointed.

**KingCracker**

Ahtman wrote:
Platuan4th wrote:
There's a nice chunk of that list(Harry Potter, Anime, LotR, TNG[?! Why specifically that one?], Star Wars, and, by this point, Dr. Who) that's very popular these days with people I wouldn't classify as nerd.

No, all that stuff is still really nerdy. Don't lie to yourself.

Agreed

**cincydooley**

Hybrid Son Of Oxayotl wrote:
Title seemed interesting, and then I discover “states” meant “part of the united states” rather than, well, any other state in the world. And I was disappointed.

Well that's too bad for you, isn't it?

I'm a bit surprised by Ohio not being blue, but then again according to their Facebook criteria, I wouldn't be that "nerdy."

**hotsauceman1**

Yeah, I dont like many things on my FB because I get flooded. Why not do sells of nerdy passtimes? Like what states have high video game and sci-fi novels per 1000?
granted we would have to define what being a nerd is. Which is difficult to be all encompassing. Maybe A state of being interested in a majority of the follow, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Role-playing games(As is not the ones in the bedrooms) video games(Although this may be less then likely, seeing as they are entering the mainstream) and comic books"

**cincydooley**

I'd say video games are very much mainstream, and have been for a while now.

**LordofHats**

Nerdom in general is increasingly become mainstream. Some parts faster than others of course. Cool map. A bit surprised that Virginia is rated nerd hell. Lived there for years and didn't notice a shortage of nerdness.

Maybe it's just the DC metro area.

**EmilCrane**

Hybrid Son Of Oxayotl wrote:
Title seemed interesting, and then I discover “states” meant “part of the united states” rather than, well, any other state in the world. And I was disappointed.

Anti-Americanism is so 2003...

As a former resident of Minnesota I'm not sure how to respond to this, while my high school was mostly full of "bros" who liked football and Call of Duty there was plenty of DnD and 40k going on as well

**Ahtman**

It isn't meant to be an incredibly scientific map, but I don't think the "Nerd Hell" states are meant to be completely devoid of nerdiness, just far lower then that of the top listed states.

**EmilCrane**

Ahtman wrote:
It isn't meant to be an incredibly scientific map, but I don't think the "Nerd Hell" states are meant to be completely devoid of nerdiness, just far lower then that of the top listed states.

It is interesting that nearly all of the populous states are some level of red though, thats probably a quirk of the way they ranked nerdiness

Also more people means more working class people who rarely have the disposable income for the crazy amount of money many geek hobbies require

**Hybrid Son Of Oxayotl**

EmilCrane wrote:
Anti-Americanism is so 2003...

It is not anti-Americanism. How many of you would be interested by a map of nerdiness of regions of France ? I certainly would not call you on anti-Francism for not caring at all. I would call you reasonable for not caring.

**Ahtman**

Hybrid Son Of Oxayotl wrote:
EmilCrane wrote:
Anti-Americanism is so 2003...

It is not anti-Americanism. How many of you would be interested by a map of nerdiness of regions of France ? I certainly would not call you on anti-Francism for not caring at all. I would call you reasonable for not caring.

It would certainly be interesting. This is a website predominantly dominated by US and UK posters, and thus will predominately contain stories from/about those places. Considering all the other stories that take place in either it seems odd to single this one out, and it isn't really about not caring either, as you wouldn't have said anything if you truly didn't care.

**EmilCrane**

Hybrid Son Of Oxayotl wrote:
EmilCrane wrote:
Anti-Americanism is so 2003...

It is not anti-Americanism. How many of you would be interested by a map of nerdiness of regions of France ? I certainly would not call you on anti-Francism for not caring at all. I would call you reasonable for not caring.

I would be interested in a nerdiness survey of the departments ro regions of France. I don't know as much about the modern culture of France as I would like, but I remember seeing a fair number of gaming shops when I was there, even in the rural south in the dordogne valley.

EDIT: I was also being flippant when I said your were being anti American, apologies if that didn't come through.

**SagesStone**

A state/province/whatever wide map like this on a global basis though...

**Dreadclaw69**

Woohoo!! Nerd heaven

**WarOne**

I'm so angry at the results I'm going to write bad fluff about Sisters of Battle being used as tools to WARD off Daemons now.

**Platuan4th**

Ahtman wrote:
Platuan4th wrote:
There's a nice chunk of that list(Harry Potter, Anime, LotR, TNG[?! Why specifically that one?], Star Wars, and, by this point, Dr. Who) that's very popular these days with people I wouldn't classify as nerd.

No, all that stuff is still really nerdy. Don't lie to yourself.

I'm not saying it's not nerdy. I'm saying it's popular enough that even non-nerds like them.

**dementedwombat**

chaos0xomega wrote:
demented - you talking about Kerbal Space Program? lol

That is indeed a thing. That is one of those rare games that I can enjoy without end and one of the very few "indy" games that can be bothered with. Plus watching people mess with it on youtube is amazing, no matter what skill level they are (watching people's rockets blow up is always fun).

**Hybrid Son Of Oxayotl**

Ahtman wrote:
It would certainly be interesting.

Do you think so ? Would you even know the differences between the regions of France ? Actually, I would not be interested in that

.

Ahtman wrote:
This is a website predominantly dominated by US and UK posters, and thus will predominately contain stories from/about those places. Considering all the other stories that take place in either it seems odd to single this one out, and it isn't really about not caring either, as you wouldn't have said anything if you truly didn't care.

I singled this one out because I was misled by the title.

**Ensis Ferrae**

Hybrid Son Of Oxayotl wrote:
Ahtman wrote:
It would certainly be interesting.

Do you think so ? Would you even know the differences between the regions of France ? Actually, I would not be interested in that .

To be fair, I'd imagine that not many people from outside the US see many differences between Colorado, Texas, or Washington (as examples) from cultural perspectives, and may cause a perceived lack of interest. I would not be able to tell much differences between the various regions of France (for example), except that I know Champagne comes from there, as does Cognac, though whether either of those two places are actually provinces/states I don't know.

I also don't think the map is very well thought out or done, but I'd imagine the more "scientific" method would be to go and find the number of FLGs, Comic Book Shops, GWs, etc. and combine that with sales figures for certain types of "literature" from major book retailers to really see a good picture of what is "nerd heaven" or "nerd hell"... I mean, Tennessee was pink, yet for the longest time they were one of the US Battle Bunker sites and US HQ for GW, IIRC.

**Platuan4th**

Ensis Ferrae wrote:
Hybrid Son Of Oxayotl wrote:
Ahtman wrote:
It would certainly be interesting.

Do you think so ? Would you even know the differences between the regions of France ? Actually, I would not be interested in that .

To be fair, I'd imagine that not many people from outside the US see many differences between Colorado, Texas, or Washington (as examples) from cultural perspectives, and may cause a perceived lack of interest. I would not be able to tell much differences between the various regions of France (for example), except that I know Champagne comes from there, as does Cognac, though whether either of those two places are actually provinces/states I don't know.

Champagne is, in fact, a region in France. Cognac, however, is a town, not a region.

**Ahtman**

n0t_u wrote:
A state/province/whatever wide map like this on a global basis though...

It would be very cool and if such a thing came upon my radar I would share. As no one has done it I can only share what is out there.

**dementedwombat**

Platuan4th wrote:
Ensis Ferrae wrote:
Hybrid Son Of Oxayotl wrote:
Ahtman wrote:
It would certainly be interesting.

Do you think so ? Would you even know the differences between the regions of France ? Actually, I would not be interested in that .

To be fair, I'd imagine that not many people from outside the US see many differences between Colorado, Texas, or Washington (as examples) from cultural perspectives, and may cause a perceived lack of interest. I would not be able to tell much differences between the various regions of France (for example), except that I know Champagne comes from there, as does Cognac, though whether either of those two places are actually provinces/states I don't know.

Champagne is, in fact, a region in France. Cognac, however, is a town, not a region.

And from a random fact I read a long time ago they used to make the train tracks divert around cognac because they were worried about the sparks setting the air on fire... although I'm guessing that was made up.