Study: The Most Tech-Addicted States in the U.S.

Whether it’s the most recent launch of our favorite tech gadgets, the fastest-growing tech companies, or the latest emerging technologies that have everyone talking, keeping up with today’s ever-changing digital world can be challenging to say the least. Even so, millions of tech-addicted Americans make the effort every day by frantically searching for the latest and greatest new tech.

But what, exactly, are they searching for? Are they thinking about buying the latest smart home devices? Or getting some info on how the biggest tech giants are faring this quarter? Maybe they want to finally learn what blockchain is.

Whatever their motivations are, we know one thing for sure; tech addicts everywhere are doing their best to stay plugged in. That’s why the team here at SimpleTexting decided to take a deeper look at Google search trends to find out what tech-addicted Americans are searching for in 2022 and what parts of the country are doing the bulk of the research.

Read on to find out how tech-addicted your state is, and the types of technology its residents are searching for most often.

Methodology

To determine which states are more tech-addicted than the rest, we turned to the only logical place people today go for information: Google. 

We began by compiling a list of 113 tech-related keywords from websites like NY Mag, Science Focus, Forbes, and Brookings.edu, which we broke up into three categories: tech gadgets, tech companies, and emerging technologies. The tech gadgets and emerging technologies categories focus on recent and upcoming tech trends to make sure our data paints a clear picture of today’s interests.

From there, we recorded Google Trends search interest for each term over the past 12 months for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Using that search interest metric, we were able to determine which types of technology each state is searching for the most and which are being searched most often, overall.

In the end, we scaled the total search interest of all 113 keywords we researched for each state on a scale of 0 to 100 to get some concrete answers as to which states are the most tech-addicted. We also found out the category of tech (gadgets, companies, and emerging tech) each state seems to be most interested in.

Mapping Tech Addiction Across the U.S.

Using search interest online, we were able to map out the tech gadget, companies, and emerging technologies each state has the most interest in. Interact with the map above to take a closer look at what your state is searching for most often.

With just a quick glance at the map, you can see that coastal states that have had a more vested interest in technology over the years are the ones that search it most often. But if you look just a bit longer, you’ll notice some interesting trends.

For example, we were able to determine which of our three categories each state is searching for most frequently. We found that 35 states searched companies the most, 12 states were most interested in a new gadget, and only four focused more on emerging technologies.

Companies and new products are much more accessible to consumers than groundbreaking technologies that are paving the way for the next iteration of tech, which likely explains the discrepancy there. However, all four of the states that search emerging technologies the most are in the top 10 when it comes to overall tech search interest. If you ask us, it seems that innovation and new technologies are the pillars the tech leaders in the country lean on most heavily when creating new products and launching new services.

The 10 States Most Addicted to Technology

Alt: A graphic showing the ten most tech-obsessed states based on search interest

Now let’s take a closer look at the 10 most tech-addicted states.

In what we would call the least insightful piece of information you’ll gather from the article, California sits alone as the most tech-addicted state. The home of Silicon Valley received the highest search interest score (100) in our analysis, with a particular interest in Google’s AR Glasses (gadget), Alphabet (company), and artificial intelligence (emerging tech). 

Coming in (a fairly distant) second place is another U.S. tech hub: New York. The Empire State came in with a search score of 83.58 out of 100 with residents most often searching Google’s AR Glasses, Chinese multinational tech company Alibaba, and cloud computing, respectively. New York, like California, had a stronger overall interest in our emerging technologies keyword category.

Trailing very closely behind, Washington finishes as the third most tech-addicted state. This is likely thanks to their top-search tech company, Microsoft, being headquartered in Redmond, WA. When it comes to emerging technologies, The Evergreen State is most interested in mixed reality, which is essentially an experience that mixes both real and virtual worlds. Washington’s most popular search category was also emerging tech.

New Jersey (73.09 out of 100) and Massachusetts (70.88 out of 100) round out our top five most tech-addicted states. New Jersey has a special interest in the Apple Watch Series 6 and the Metaverse, defined as an “embodied virtual reality experience.” Massachusetts, home to MIT, searches Dell more often than any other tech company and has been researching machine learning frequently over the past 12 months, something we’re sure MIT’s machine learning group would be proud to hear.

The Top Tech-Related Searches Overall

Alt: Bar charts showing the most popular tech-related searches by category

Our tech gadgets category was the most hotly contested, with devices from smartwatches (Apple Watch Series 6) to keyboards (Logitech G413) popping up several times across the country. The most popularly searched gadget overall is the Apple Watch Series , followed closely by smart thermostats, smart speakers, and the Samsung Galaxy S21 smartphone.

The tech companies and emerging technologies categories were both far less varied in their results. TikTok and Amazon are far and away the top-searched companies, as they’re searched more than any other in 15 and 14 states, respectively. Emerging tech follows a similar path, with AR Cloud (24 states) and 5G (8 states) separating themselves as the new technology everyone wants to learn more about.

Search intent could be the driving force behind the heavy skew we see in the data. Tech gadgets and devices are tangible, well-marketed, consumer products that people will develop preferences for over time. Companies are searched for dozens of reasons, so seeing retailers that speak directly to consumers like Amazon and social media apps like TikTok dominate this category is logical.

Finally, some emerging technologies have made their way into the cultural lexicon enough to be of interest, while others haven’t quite gotten that level of notice yet. Media access can play a large role in the popularity of different ideas, so well-covered topics that could soon affect customers directly like augmented reality, 5G, and artificial intelligence being searched more thoroughly makes sense.

Closing Thoughts

People across the country are searching for new technology a lot. With new product releases happening every few weeks, companies pushing each other to develop the next big thing, and emerging technologies laying the groundwork for future innovation, we have our work cut out for us when it comes to staying on top of things.

Luckily, whether they’re tech or text-marketing-focused, staying on top of the most recent trends is what we do at SimpleTexting. So if you’re looking to roll out a new product or service of your own, we can help you reach the right audience at the right time with SMS marketing. Try it for free today.