With a bit fewer than 7 million residents, Massachusetts ranks a middling 16th in population among the states. However, when it comes to internet searches for terms associated with emerging technologies per 100,000 residents, the Bay State is No. 1.
The digital adoption company WalkMe of San Francisco and Tel Aviv made the finding when it analyzed state-by-state search data from Google’s Keyword Planner toolkit.
WalkMe researchers used 47 terms—“artificial intelligence,” “ChatGPT,” “virtual reality” and 44 more—to uncover the states “most excited about next-generation technologies.”
Key findings:
- Massachusetts produces an average of 580,855 tech-oriented searches each month. This equates to 8,319 searches per 100,000 people in the state that’s home to MIT, Harvard Medical School and numerous other leading educational institutions.
- Washington state is a fairly close second with 8,160 techie-revealing searches per month. Its monthly search count tops 635,000 on a population of 7.8 million.
- California is an also-close third in per-100K searches but first in absolute numbers—a dominant 3.2 million searches. Its population is close to 40 million.
Here’s the full top 10 list (with next-gen tech searches per 100,000 residents):
- Massachusetts (8,319)
- Washington (8,160)
- California (8,099)
- New York (7,691)
- Utah (7,332)
- Oregon (6,984)
- New Jersey (6,893)
- Colorado (6,644)
- Virginia (6,528)
- Connecticut (6,215)
On the other end of the list, the three least tech-obsessed states are Louisiana (No. 48), West Virginia (No. 49) and, in dead last place, Mississippi. The Magnolia State yields just 2,200 searches for tech terms per 100K residents. WalkMe notes this is almost four times lower than Massachusetts.
Of the 47 search terms that WalkMe measured, “Chat GPT” was the most popular in every state. A close second: “chatgpt.”
‘This data demonstrates that some parts of America are considerably more interested in significant technological advancements than others.’—WalkMe spokesperson in materials sent to the press July 10
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.